


Edge of It All

by flowerslut



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M, Gen, Human!Jasper, Vampire!Alice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27144478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerslut/pseuds/flowerslut
Summary: Jasper never had much control over his life. Why would his death be any different? A human!Jasper x vampire!Alice AU. (First two chapters  for Jalice Week 2020)
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale
Comments: 46
Kudos: 41
Collections: Jalice Week 2020





	1. Chapter 1

With a deep breath he inhaled steadily, closing his eyes as he let the cigarette calm him. Upon his exhale he opened his eyes, watching as the smoke mingled with his own breath, both evaporating in the cold air. The rain fell hard around him as he leaned up against the wet bark of the tree.

He wasn’t entirely out of the way of the constant downpour; his clothes were dampened with a fine layer of rainwater. But the slight cover that the canopy of trees provided him with was the best amount of protection he was going to get out there. He ignored the shiver that fought it’s way free and pulled his jacket tighter around him.

It was bad enough that he’d cut class, but now there was no way he’d be able to return in time for sixth period. And even if he did—if he stomped out his cigarette and rushed back to the math and sciences building—Ms. Sanborn would see his drenched state, smell the smoke on his clothes and send him straight to the office. He didn’t want them to call Wilson any more than he was sure the man wanted to be interrupted on a work day.

At the breakfast table he’d pleaded with Jasper to not cause any trouble today; his foster father had an important meeting with the nurses under his charge at the clinic today. The portly man wasn’t a nurse himself—administrative duties had been his calling, apparently—but sometimes the man spoke with an air that made Jasper wonder if the guy really thought he was as important as the health care providers that _actually_ treated patients.

It annoyed Jasper on a good day, but today it had been borderline intolerable.

He’d tried, at least. He’d stuck it out until lunch period and then that annoying _fuck_ Colson just had to make some remark in passing that it was a _good_ thing college applications charged a fee, saying it ‘weeded out the dumbasses whose parents couldn’t afford school anyway.’ 

Jasper hadn’t even hit the guy, even after the snob had pointedly eyed Jasper as they walked by the corner of the lunch room he typically occupied. He hadn’t even _said_ anything in reply to the remark! Really, it was a testament to some sort of self-control Jasper had been scavenging together over the past ten months at the tiny school. The fact that he hadn’t ended the day suspended should be seen as a gift to Wilson.

And truly he wasn’t hurting anyone in skipping class. He was failing pre-calc anyways. And then after that was art. Which was so easy he could probably skip the rest of the school year and still score at least a B.

That was one of the plus sides to a school (and a town) as small as Forks. Back in Oakland—and even in Seattle, although he’d only been there for a month and a half—the school resource officer would’ve been out, scouring the grounds for him by now. Here, there weren’t even metal detectors by the doors. It was bizarre in the most liberating of ways.

Not that he brought his knife to school anymore anyways. Wilson and Meg had begged him to leave it in his room. He should’ve found himself grateful that they didn’t confiscate it from him fully.

“If it helps him feel safe, it’s fine,” he’d overheard his foster mother, Meg, explaining to her conservative husband a few weeks after he’d arrived.

“He has a history of violence,” his foster father had growled back, not even attempting to be quiet. Jasper hadn’t felt bad about listening in when there wasn’t much of an attempt at subtlety.

“Violence when threatened,” he could almost picture Meg rolling her eyes, dismissing her husband’s valid concerns the way she often did. The sound of a cabinet opening and closing had given Jasper all he context clues he needed, and when he’d heard the _pop_ of a bottle he just knew that she was about to down her nightly bottle of wine. “What’s going to threaten him out here? The rain? A wandering coyote? Relax, Wil.”

They weren’t the best placement he’d been given, in Jasper’s opinion. But they were far from the worst.

Tugging his damp sleeves further down his arms Jasper reached to his back pocket and retrieved another cigarette from the carton. He’d already told himself that his previous one would be his last one of the day, but then he’d realized that there was no way he was going to make it back to school. Might as well light up a couple more.

When he started flicking his lighter, he swore loudly when a thick raindrop fell through the canopy and perfectly into the lighter’s opening, extinguishing the flame he’d just ignited. He flicked it several times after that, swearing again when the stupid thing refused to even _spark._ Out of frustration he let the unlit cigarette fall from his lips, tossing the now-useless lighter deep into the woods.

Great. Just fucking perfect. He _did_ have a shift at the new convenience store in town tomorrow, meaning he’d be able to snag a few more lighters before he clocked out, but that felt too far away.

Leaning his head back against he tree he thought to himself, attempting to come up with a decent enough excuse to get Wilson off of his back tonight. No doubt the school had already called both the house phone as well as his and Meg’s cell phones. The fact that his own shitty prepaid phone hadn’t rung yet was surprising. Usually Wilson liked to let Jasper know how disappointed he was in him the _instant_ said disappointment struck the man.

His daydreams were cut short when suddenly something small came flying at him, hitting him square in the chest too quickly for him to dodge.

“ _Oof,_ ” Jasper leaned forward, his hands moving to grab at his chest. He was caught so off guard that he had no idea what had even struck him, but whatever it was had been moving so fast that Jasper wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t bleeding beneath his shirt. The projectile had felt small and metal.

For half of a second Jasper thought that maybe he was shot, but quickly he dismissed the thought. He hadn’t heard a _peep_ and besides, he’d learned from others exactly what being shot felt like, and this feeling—while still acutely painful—didn’t compare.

“Sorry!” A woman’s voice called from somewhere high up in the canopy, causing Jasper to almost jump out of his own skin. His head quickly lifted, searching for the source of the words. “I didn’t mean to throw that so hard!”

Who the fuck…?

It was there, on the ground in front of him, that he saw it: his broken, red lighter. The one he’d tossed far into the forest barely minutes before.

Someone else was out here with him, and she had an arm that would put most major league baseball players to shame.

Her voice was high, almost bell-like with her apology. It wasn’t a voice Jasper recognized as he wracked his brain, trying to place it with a face he knew from school.

“What—where are you?” He called out, hand still against his chest as he stepped out from the cover of the trees and lifted his eyes to the canopy once more. Her voice sounded impossibly high up. There was no way someone could climb any of these trees without a ladder, he realized as he blinked up into the oncoming rain.

Then, a blur of movement as something—no, _someone_ —fell from high above, landing only feet away from him.

“Jesus Christ!” He screamed, unable to help himself as he stumbled back a few steps. With one arm half-way outstretched, he didn’t have time to stumble back toward the girl— _holy shit she’d jumped fucking hell there’s no way she survived that these trees are massive oh god some girl just fucking killed herself in front of him_ —he found himself stunned into silence when his eyes fell upon the girl standing before him, completely unharmed.

“Hi!” She greeted cheerily, smiling widely up at him.

Jasper wondered if she’d thrown something else at him, because suddenly all the air left his lungs and he was stuck there motionless, staring at the girl in front of him.

She was _beautiful_. Almost otherworldly so. Her hair was cropped short around her face, longer strands sticking to her pale cheeks due to the rain. Her clothes were ill-fitting—and were those _holes_ in the sweater that almost swallowed her slight frame whole?—and she was completely barefoot.

Not to mention her eyes were a bright, vivid red.

The instant his eyes landed on hers he took an involuntary step backward. Sure, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his entire eighteen years on this planet, but that one glance into her own gaze broke whatever trance she’d placed him in and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to raise.

It wasn’t that he’d never seen anyone wear colored lenses before. But this crossed over from weird to just plain eerie with the rest of her appearance alone.

Her face crumbled as he took another step backwards. “No! It’s okay! I’m not going to hurt you, I—” but as she inhaled her face was suddenly pained, and in the blink of an eye she was suddenly fifty yards away, just barely visible across the clearing.

Moving slowly, Jasper felt his heart rate begin to skyrocket as he took another step backward. He had to move. He had to find his bag. He had to find his shit _now_ and get the fuck out of there before—

“No!” And in another blink she was behind him, standing just between him and his ratty old backpack. “Please, I’m sorry. I know I’m going about this all wrong but—”

“What the fuck are—” it was too easy to slip on the wet leaves beneath his feet, and as Jasper landed on his ass in a puddle he couldn’t help but scurry backward any way he could. He was either losing his goddamn mind, or he was about to die. Maybe both. “Get—get away from me!” He yelled, swatting a hand ahead of him, feeling very much like a fool. Like a caveman swinging a torch toward a lion; a silly, feeble motion.

“No, Jasper, _shh,_ ” her eyes were wide then, and when she lifted her hands up toward him, as if trying to calm a wild animal, her sleeves fell backward. Jasper’s eyes locked onto the blood beneath her fingernails and in that moment he was certain he was going to die.

He stopped attempting to escape in that moment. “How the fuck do you know my name?” He demanded of the girl—the demon—the _thing—_ as he worked to keep his voice even. She didn’t need to know that he was scared out of his wits. Truthfully, she definitely already knew it. After all he was on his ass in the middle of a puddle, not too far from wetting himself if he were being entirely honest.

He knew he’d fight his way back to the school if he had to, but somehow the idea of defending himself against this tiny girl seemed like a laughable idea.

“I’m messing this up so bad. No, no, no.” Then, her eyes flickered back toward where the school was. Jasper followed her gaze, but when he lifted his eyes back up, she was gone.

“Hello?” He called out, his voice shaking as he waited for her to reappear somewhere else around him.

He nearly pissed his pants when he turned his head back toward the school and Edward Cullen was standing there, staring out into the clearing with his weird, wide, golden eyes. Coming up behind him was none other than his brother, Emmett.

“Did you see that?” Jasper blurted out, desperate to know that he wasn’t crazy, that the Cullen boys had seen the demon girl, too.

Edward looked at him strangely then, and Jasper couldn’t help but think that the younger boy was seeing straight through him. But when the bronze-haired Cullen shrugged, looking around the clearing, as if confused, Jasper felt his heart sink. “See what?”

“You good man?” Emmett asked, jogging up to where Jasper was laying in the mud. The oldest Cullen had always been the nicest out of all of them. Not that the others were mean, but they certainly weren’t the friendliest group of people.

He’d known who they were even before he’d even started his first day. Meg and Wilson had told him all about the Cullen siblings and the Hale girls before he’d started. “They’re foster kids, too. Good kids. Maybe try hanging out with them!”

As if it would be a normal thing to do; approach the only other outcasts in the school and form what? A friendship? An alliance of weirdos? Jasper had never attempted to even talk to them.

Emmett reached down toward Jasper and he grabbed the offered hand firmly, letting the larger boy pull him up onto his feet.

Jasper frowned as Emmett released his grip. If his hands were _that_ cold then Jasper’s had to be far worse. It was then that he was reminded just how freezing it was outside, as the rain continued to pour down on them, unrelenting. “What happened?” The dark-haired guy asked, also surveying the area with careful eyes.

“I—” But Jasper didn’t want to sound like a complete lunatic and he also had no idea how to describe what the fuck had just happened. “There was… a girl?”

“A girl?” Emmett raised an eyebrow, then his expression morphed and suddenly he looked like he was biting back a grin. “If Sanborn knew you were cutting class to hook up with a girl she’d have an aneurism.”

“I—that’s not—”

“Emmett,” Edward rolled his eyes, before turning back toward the school, “Come on.”

“What were _you two_ doing out here?” Jasper flipped the script on them as quick as he could, hating how his face was probably bright red at the insinuation.

Emmett laughed, “Leaving early to drive this one to a doctor’s appointment,” he jutted a thumb over his shoulder toward his brother, “and we were nearly to the car when we swore we heard the sound of someone screaming.” He eyed Jasper pointedly, his eyes once more traveling around the forest. “Y’know there’s bears out here. You should be careful.”

Jasper snorted, reaching around and wiping wet leaves off his pants, then he skulked over to where he’d dropped his bag and picked it back up, flinging it over his shoulder. “There aren’t bears out here.”

“That _you_ know about!” Emmett pointed a finger just as Edward cleared his throat, apparently tired of being in Jasper’s presence. This was what Jasper meant when he said Emmett was at least _friendly_. His siblings, not so much. 

“Let’s go, Emmett.” If Edward had started tapping his foot Jasper wouldn’t have been surprised. He reminded Jasper of some stuck-up mom sick of waiting in line at an overcrowded Starbucks.

(Yet _another_ normal, regular thing Forks didn’t even have.)

“Need a lift?” Emmett offered, ignoring his brother and turning fully toward Jasper. “I doubt you’re going back to class and we drive right by your street anyways.” Then he paused, “You live off Hill, right?”

Jasper nodded. “Actually, yeah. If you don’t mind.” Truthfully Jasper didn’t want to spend one more second in these woods, especially if that demon girl was going to show up again. As he turned to follow Emmett his eyes met Edward’s glare. “What?”

Edward didn’t say anything, but he also didn’t move. So when Emmett strode right past him, Jasper close behind, he couldn’t help but think to himself, _what the fuck is your problem?_ as he walked by. But it wasn’t until he and Emmett were several strides away that Jasper swore he heard something.

A growl of some sort, coming from where Edward was still standing, facing the clearing. Jasper turned to look, suddenly wondering what the hell that noise was, when Emmett reached out and grabbed the blond’s shoulder.

“Watch out,” he said, just as Jasper stumbled across an over-grown root.

Catching himself he was thankful for Emmett’s outstretched arm. Clinging to it, he steadied himself, feeling like an idiot as he quietly thanked the guy. When Jasper finally turned his head, Edward was already following after them, his expression severe.

But even as they made it to the car, Jasper pulling his hood up over his head to prevent any of the teachers from recognizing him walking with the Cullen boys, Jasper couldn’t help but wonder what that noise was.

And who that girl was.


	2. Chapter 2

Dinner that night was rough. Jasper, to his benefit, had been raised with enough manners to know not to leave the table until dismissed; he might have been defiant at times but he wasn’t into dramatic displays of brattiness. So when Wilson started to rant about how badly he’d needed Jasper to listen and how thoroughly he’d been let down today, Jasper simply sat there and took it like a man. He’d made his choices, and now he had to deal with the consequences.

And usually, the consequences began and ended at ‘a firm talking to’. 

At least now, in a harmless little town like this, the worst thing he could get into was school trouble. He had old foster parents who hadn’t expected him to make it through middle school, and there he was, months away from graduating high school. The fact that they weren’t astonished with his progress was frustrating to him on most days, but then again, they’d received Jasper in their care months after he’d already dug himself out of rock bottom.

They didn’t know how good they had it with him right now, he realized miserably as he picked at the roasted cauliflower on the plate in front of him.

Eventually the topic switched from Jasper’s shortcomings to random anecdotes from Wilson’s and Meg’s workdays. While Wilson worked at the urgent care clinic at the edge of town, Meg was a teacher at the elementary school. It had been a baffling thing at first to Jasper, who knew the woman swore like a sailor and could put away more wine than anyone he’d ever met, but it made sense when she shared stories about her day.

She actually appeared to like children.

It made Jasper wonder how disappointed the couple had been when their first placement had been a delinquent teenager as opposed to a cute little toddler.

There was a lull in conversation then, and Jasper took his chance. “You guys have my medical records right?”

The couple exchanged a look. “Of course we do,” Wilson wiped his mouth with a napkin as he spoke, still chewing a bite of food. “Why do you ask?”

Jasper half-shrugged. “None of my other foster parents let me see them. I wanted to know if I was allowed to.”

He’d turned eighteen a couple of months ago but had been allowed to remain under Meg and Wilson’s care. It was a mutually beneficial agreement, really. Wilson and Meg could still receive compensation for housing him even though he worked part-time and fully supported himself as best as he could already. And Jasper was still allowed to stay with the couple.

His social worker, a nice older guy Jasper had known for a few years now, had recommended the extension.

So far the plan was to get Jasper to graduation, through the summer, and hopefully onto school in the fall. As the months passed though, Jasper knew his chances of scoring any sort of scholarship, or even gaining acceptance into any University in _or_ out of state (with or without taking out loans) slowly dwindled.

“How about this?” Meg proposed, lifting her red wine to her lips before continuing. “What is it? Tuesday? Make it through to Friday without skipping any classes and Wilson will get them for you this weekend.”

Jasper gritted his teeth at the proposal. He had to remind himself that Meg wasn’t withholding the information to be cruel. It was a simple request, really. But that didn’t mean Jasper enjoyed having her dangle this type of information above him in exchange for ‘good behavior’.

He wondered if he could just text Greg—his social worker—and go around his foster parents, but Jasper bit back a sigh as he knew Greg would likely agree with the motivation behind Meg’s proposition.

“Fine,” he agreed quietly, dread already pooling low in his stomach as he thought of tolerating the remainder of the school week without interruption.

That night he had trouble sleeping.

He woke up several times, expecting to see red eyes watching his every move, but instead all he did was sit up, calming himself as he caught his breath and swore outwardly into the silent room.

Truthfully the main reason he wanted his records was to see if he had any diagnoses he didn’t know about. It was fully possible that he actually _was_ crazy and that he was simply never told. The chance that he’d hallucinated the demon girl in the woods was still there as long as he didn’t have those records.

And if they came up clean he wondered if he’d be able to somehow find and see his birth parent’s medical records. He already knew addiction ran in his blood—it’s why he avoided drugs, even one a simple as _weed_ , like the goddamn plague—but if either of his parents had been actually psychotic, it would help Jasper to figure out if his mind was also a ticking time bomb.

The rest of the week at school was long and arduous. He held up his end of the bargain just the way he agreed. He didn’t skip one single class. Principal Shafer even commended him on his attendance by the middle of the day on Thursday, as if it were something Jasper was supposed to be happy or feel proud over.

Instead it just irritated him and he’d nearly picked a fight with one of Colson’s buddies in Spanish class. Thankfully—or perhaps it was a bit of a disappointment, really—he was more fluent than everyone else besides Mrs. Posner, so when he insulted the sandy haired fuckhead in front of the class in Spanish, she had been the only one to gasp and reprimand him.

It was worth it for the frustration that rolled off Parker for the rest of the class, irritated that out of the two people who _could_ tell him what Jasper had said, Mrs. Posner had outright refused, simply giving Jasper an after school detention and resuming the lesson.

Maybe he should worry more about his Spanish grade, but Jasper knew that if he got anything less than an A in this class it wouldn’t be due to lack of knowledge…

After the final bell rang, Jasper sat on the stairs outside, watching as the kids who didn’t drive—usually the underclassmen and the poorer kids—piled onto one of two busses that brought kids home from Forks high. He knew he only had a couple of minutes before the driver got sick of waiting for Jasper to join him and simply left without him, but Jasper was going to push his luck today if it meant he could have a moment of peace without constant _chatter_ going on around him.

He’d left his headphones at home that morning and had been pissed about it all day.

Jasper’s gaze wandered the parking lot then, and when his eyes met a golden pair, he found himself staring back.

It was Rosalie Hale. Standing next to her was her younger sister—or was it cousin?—Bella. 

At least Bella had the decency of looking away when Jasper’s eyes fell upon them. She wasn’t as outgoing as Emmett was, but the girl was at least polite. Rosalie on the other hand always baffled Jasper.

Back in Oakland a girl that hot would’ve been running the school. But Rosalie kept to herself, did her work perfectly, and minded her business. Occasionally she’d hurt the pride of some unsuspecting fool who didn’t believe the rumors that Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen were _actually_ an item—“it’s disgusting,” Jessica Stanley had explained to him on one of his first days, “they _live_ together. It’s like dating your sibling; so, so weird”—and Jasper had even heard a rumor that once she’d had to _physically_ get her point across to a handsy senior a couple years back.

The story went like this: she’d broken his nose, and a couple ribs, and no one had messed with Rosalie Hale since.

Now, she stared back at him with a glare that very much resembled the one Edward had been shooting him a few days prior.

He resisted the urge to shrug and mouth an irritated ‘what?’ before she opened the door to her red beamer and disappeared inside.

One thing that had frustrated Jasper even more about this week was the eyes he felt on him at all hours of the day. And not just from his classmates who were stunned to see him actually attending class, but from the goddamn Cullens.

The more he caught them staring, the more he found himself wondering what the fuck their deal was. And the more he wondered, the more he thought back to Tuesday afternoon in the woods.

Either he was actually crazy and paranoia was beginning to seep into his subconsciousness and force him into thinking he was being watched, or Edward and Emmett knew something Jasper didn’t.

The odds of them also having seen that demon girl increased more and more every day as they appeared in his peripheral during random intervals throughout the week.

Even on the days when Jasper worked after school the Cullens had, just this week, started shopping in that very mini-mart. After almost two months of the store being open and never having seen them in it before, Jasper was beginning to get suspicious.

Or paranoid, he had to remind himself. There was a very likely reason he was being actually insane about this whole thing.

But that night, when he got home from work—thanking Ben Cheney for the ride home and tossing a couple of bills his way for gas money—he was so exhausted that he didn’t even care that he’d done it. That he’d made it though the school week without skipping. He just wanted to sleep for two days. He was so tired he didn’t even feel as if the trade—his attendance for his records—was even worth it anymore.

He was so tired that he almost didn’t notice the red-eyed demon girl sitting on his bed until he’d already tossed his backpack across the room, his keys onto his desk, and his shoes into the corner.

When he looked up and met her eyes, he startled slightly, shuffling back before freezing under her gaze.

“Don’t scream.” She whispered so quietly he almost didn’t hear her speak. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“How the fuck did you get in here?” He asked, his voice shaking as he blindly pawed at the wall behind him for the light switch. A part of him hoped and prayed that this was his mind playing tricks on him and that once the light flicked on she’d vanish. But when his hands found the switch, turning the light attached to his ceiling fan on and illuminating the room, he felt his stomach jump up into his throat.

She was still there. And her eyes that appeared to be glowing before in the dark were still as bright as ever.

Her hands were folded in her lap as she sat on the edge of his bed. She was so short that her feet didn’t even reach the ground. She was still barefoot, but at least her clothes were dry this time. The same clothes she’d been wearing earlier that week.

“The window,” she provided simply, her bell-like voice soft. “I’m serious when I say I’m not going to hurt you.” There was a pause as Jasper’s fear went haywire and his heart rate skyrocketed. “Oh,” she covered her ears then, squeezing her eyes shut, “please don’t do that. It’s hard enough to be around you as it is.”

“Why the fuck are you in here? How did—”

“Shh,” Jasper didn’t even see as she moved, she just suddenly _did_. And before he could react she was standing directly in front of him, her tiny hand pressed against his mouth to keep him from speaking. “They’re going to hear you.”

Jasper’s mind went to Meg and Wilson, who were watching a movie downstairs; it was what they did every night before bed. If the same thing happened and they followed the sound of his noises only to find him terrified of an empty room, they might come to a different conclusion than the Cullen boys did. Instead of advising him against tempting bears they might have him put in some sort of psych ward.

And Jasper did not want to go to the looney bin, even if he _was_ crazy.

Slowly, the girl removed her ice-cold hand from Jasper’s mouth and in the blink of an eye she was back on his bed. The bed creaked and groaned, the mattress bouncing the girl slightly from where she’d too-quickly-for-his-eyes-to-catch launched herself back onto it.

“This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

“You’re real,” Jasper couldn’t shake the feeling of her firm, cold hand against his face, and now, even though he was still frozen, he could feel his fear slowly ebbing. “You’re actually a real person.”

The demon girl made an exasperated noise. “Of course I am! What did you think I was? Imaginary!” She almost sounded amused by the idea. Then, she paused, her eyes staring at some point behind him for a few seconds. Long enough for Jasper to notice and for his fear to begin to resurface once more. “We should probably be a little quieter,” she commented again, her voice just barely above a whisper.

Not wanting to take his eyes off the girl, Jasper reached behind him and flicked another switch, turning the ceiling fan on and providing them with some small amount of white-noise. Not enough to cover up too much, but his foster parents certainly wouldn’t hear a soft-spoken conversation over it.

Alice’s eyes lost focus and then quickly refocused as she turned to smile up at him. “Thank you.”

Jasper was stunned at her smile, suddenly feeling very conflicted over the fact that this terrifying weird red-eyed girl was so strangely gorgeous. “Who are you?”

Alice’s smile fell immediately. “Oh.” Then, her eyes fell to her hands, still clasped primly in her lap. “So you don’t know…”

“Of course not!” He blurted out before remembering he needed to be quiet, and lowering his voice, “We’ve never met before.” He took one uneasy step further into his bedroom. “I mean, besides the other day.”

“I just,” she sighed. “I thought you might know. But I suppose it wouldn’t make any sense now, would it?”

“You know my name,” he accused, taking another step into the room. For some reason he felt far more confident when she wasn’t looking at him with those red, haunting eyes. She was a tiny thing, after all. Likely barely five feet tall, and she looked like she barely weighed 100 pounds, if even that. “Who are you?”

“I’m Alice,” she spoke her name quietly. “I’ve been looking for you for a little while now.”

Jasper swallowed a nervous lump in his throat. “How long is a while?”

“About four moons now.”

That caused Jasper to stop. “What?”

Alice looked up at him again, confusion etched carefully onto her doll-like features. “Sorry. I’m learning people track time differently, but I’m not sure how.” Then, she gestured upward, toward the sky. “You know, the moon?”

There was a brief pause before he forced himself to reply. “I know what the moon is.”

“It’s been big four times now.”

Jasper felt his brain skid to a stop before stuttering back into motion, attempting to decipher what on _Earth_ she was talking about. Four full moons? Is that what she was counting? Is that how she kept time? “Big? As in, a full circle?” He gestured vaguely with his hand as he spoke. Alice nodded. “So… four months?”

“A month,” Alice spoke the word delicately, as if testing it on her tongue, and smiled. “Yes. A month. It’s been more than four of them.”

“Since… you started looking for me?”

“Yes!” She whispered excitedly, as if remembering to keep her voice down. “And since I woke up!”

“I…” she’d lost him again. “Woke up?”

She nodded, her happiness beginning to display itself in other, more physical ways. She was now kicking her feet out slightly, letting the backs of her heels knock against the base of his bed. It was a soundless movement, but still, it unnerved him somehow. The kicks were too even, too perfect…

“Yes! And then I saw you and knew I had to find you as soon as I could. Of course, I should’ve reached out to Dr. Cullen first. He’ll be quite upset with me when he learns what I’ve done.”

“Dr. Cullen?” That was certainly a development. “You mean, Carlisle Cullen?”

Alice nodded rapidly. “Oh, I’m so excited to meet him! I’m hoping he’ll let me stay if I promise to be good.”

“Alice, nothing that you’re saying is making any sense.” If this was a hallucination than Jasper knew nothing he could do would help him at this point. Instead, he walked over to his desk and pulled out his chair, sitting himself down in it roughly before letting his face fall into his hands. “I have no idea what’s going on,” he muttered into his palms as he shook his head. “So you know the Cullens?”

“Yes! I’m afraid they don’t know me yet,” she seemed regrettable to inform him of that detail, but quickly she spoke up, “but they’re going to love me. They’ll be our new family and—” she cut herself off then. “It’s probably too soon to tell you that.”

“It isn’t fucking stopping you from doing it now, is it?” Lifting his head back up he leaned back into the chair and swiveled it toward her. “Are you deranged?”

“Deranged?”

“Crazy, insane, unstable, disturbed…” he listed the words off irritably, folding his arms over his chest as he stared back at her. “Are you a maniac?”

“I don’t know,” she seemed stressed at the admission, and it forced a strange guilt to catch his next words in his throat. But he wasn’t being irrational, he had to remind himself. _She_ was the one that had broken into _his_ room. 

“What do you know then?”

“That I’m supposed to find you.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure if telling you right now is a good idea,” she whispered the words so quietly Jasper almost didn’t hear. “I don’t want you to reject me.”

Once more stunned into silence by her strange insecurity, Jasper stared at her. He wasn’t scared anymore. Instead, confusion overpowered all other reason. He just wanted to know who and what she was, and why the fuck she’d sought him out.

Alice pouted as her eyes lost focus once more. “ _Oh_ ,” she gasped as her head turned toward the window, “Oh, I am in so much trouble.” Instantly, she was on her feet.

“What _are_ you?” She looked human, but she moved so fast sometimes he couldn’t even keep up with his eyes.

“I’ll see you later, okay?” Her words were spoken in a rush, and quickly she was standing in front of him again. She was so slight that even though he was sitting and she was standing she was just barely taller than he was. Before he knew it his hands were in hers. “Please, please believe me when I say I’m not going to hurt you, okay? And that I’m only here because I know it’s supposed to be this way. And—” she paused, hesitating—“if they want to know anything, just tell them the truth, alright? Edward will see it anyways.”

“What are you talking about? Who—Alice—”

But before he could ask another question she was gone in another blink of an eye.

It was a handful of seconds later when his gaze shot up—something had flashed across the window, startling him into his feet. Finally able to react properly, he reached in his back pocket and grabbed his pocket knife, flicking it open as he steadily approached the window. He had a very firm suspicion that it wasn’t Alice.

Something was out there, and Jasper wasn’t about to take anymore of this fucking insanity sitting down.

With his hand outstretched, knife pointing toward the window, he shuffled his feet forward. His window faced out toward the backyard, a series of trees decorating the edge of it, separating his foster parents’ yard from their neighbors’.

Jasper stood at the edge of his bedroom, almost not daring to get too close to the window as he struggled to see what was out there. Eyes catching on one of the trees Jasper watched as the tree shook and a few birds flew out of it.

He almost didn’t see the person standing by the edge of the neighbor’s house. It was too dark to make out who—or _what_ —it was, but there was no way that it was Mrs. Connelly; the woman who lived in the house directly behind theirs.

Jasper continued to stare down at it, and when he saw another black shadow step around the first, larger silhouette, he nearly jumped.

“What the fuck is going on,” he felt himself say out loud, and in seconds, both forms disappeared from the yard, gone without a trace.

If he were more of a fool he would go after them. Sneak back down the stairs and into the backyard and demand whatever leftover demons there were in hiding to come out and explain to him what the fuck was happening, but Jasper had no idea what he was getting himself into anyways.

Even now, Alice’s words unsettled him. “ _If they want to know anything just tell them the truth._ ”

Tell _who_ the truth?

As he closed his curtains and quickly changed out of his work clothes, Jasper found himself keeping the knife close, even placing it next to his pillow beside him after he eventually forced himself to climb into his bed.

There was still a chance that he actually was crazy. Just, next-level crazy, in which not only were his hallucinations visual and auditory, but physical somehow, as well.

He hoped Wilson would get those medical records this weekend as promised, because Jasper had a hell of a lot of questions, and so far, no answers.


	3. Chapter 3

He slept in as late as he could, not getting out of bed until after one o’clock in the afternoon. Really, he would’ve preferred to stay in bed later; he got very little sleep the night before. Nightmares plagued him, the red eyed girl— _Alice_ , his mind automatically corrected him now—haunting his dreams.

The main reason he got up at all was because he’d picked up a shift. He usually had Saturdays off, but he’d traded his Sunday morning shift for a coworker’s Saturday night spot. Really, it would be great to be able to sleep in on Sunday now and not have to wake up near-dawn to sell cheap coffee to the people of Forks that treated the mini-mart like a proper cafe.

Even Jasper didn’t drink the shit they brewed there, but these people had no sense of what ‘good’ coffee even was, apparently. Must’ve been a small-town thing.

He didn’t work until four PM, but he had a paper due the following Monday that he couldn’t get away with not completing. He was already cutting it close enough in English class. Besides, the report was on a book he’d read before he’d even got to Forks’ high. Jasper had no excuse to complete it, even if he didn’t ace it.

After a couple of hours he had something that he could at least pass off as completed. But still, he packed the binder away into his backpack, deciding that if it was a slow enough night at work he might be able to look over it during his downtime. It wasn’t as if he worked Saturday nights very often. For all he knew it would be a ghost town.

Of course, that didn’t end up being the case.

At least, not for the first few hours of his shift. Someone on the block must’ve been throwing a party, because the amount of random students from Forks High he saw walk in and out of the store, buying snacks and cups and sodas, was a dead giveaway.

In between customers he busied himself with nonsensical daydreams, wondering who on earth was throwing the party and how they’d gotten alcohol for it. He was sure the group of girls who had just left with bottles of cranberry juice cocktail and sprite weren’t buying it to drink on it's own. And in a town this small, Jasper had found out pretty quickly that even if he could get himself a fake ID, everyone knew everyone, so he wouldn’t even be able to use it.

He passed the busy hours by entertaining himself with thoughts of that, and wondering who likely had older siblings to provide booze. Maybe he could make a friend or two; he could use a plug for liquor. He hadn't had so much as a sip of beer for nearly a year now.

Things died down around nine and Jasper was finally able to sit himself on the stool behind the counter and pull out his essay, tweaking bits here and there. It would’ve probably helped to also have the book he was writing the report on, but he knew that even if he knew where it was, it wasn’t like he was going to reread it. So he was going to either rely on his memory of it, or just fail whilst trying.

The door dinged open just before ten, forcing Jasper to look up and proceed to drop his binder onto the ground, scattering papers everywhere.

It was her. _Alice_.

She smiled up at him as he gaped at her, even lifting her arm to _wave_ at him. As if she wasn’t standing in this store with a dirty face and red eyes and old, ratty clothes.

“Alice,” he hissed, quickly dropping down to gather the papers from where they’d exploded out of his binder upon impact with the linoleum. When he reached forward to grab his pencil he jumped, smacking his head against the underside of the counter when her skinny pale wrist reached out and grabbed the pencil before he could. “What are you—no! No, get out of here before you get me in trouble.”

Grabbing at the papers roughly he tossed them onto the counter behind him, right beneath where the wall of cigarettes lay. Alice simply stood at his side, frowning as she offered him the pencil she’d retrieved. “No ones going to see me,” she grumbled, almost sad.

“You don’t know that,” he looked around desperately, waiting for another random customer to appear and catch him with this… this _thing_.

“Yes I do,” she rolled her eyes at him and Jasper nearly reached up to pull out his hair.

“You need to _go_ ,” with hesitance he placed a hand on her shoulder and began to slowly guide her out from behind the counter, but when he continued to push, trying to lead her out of the store, she planted her feet and Jasper ran directly into her.

The fact that he hadn’t bowled her right over meant that she was far stronger than she looked; way stronger than Jasper would’ve ever expected.

“They’re keeping me from seeing you and it’s getting frustrating!” Alice stomped a quick foot, and a display case by the door shook. “I’m sorry to barge in like this but this is the only way I can see you.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because I may have done a little bit of sabotage to get here tonight,” she spoke as if she were confessing some sort of wrong-doing to an authority figure. Jasper stepped to the side in order to get a proper look at the guilty expression on her face.

“I literally have no idea what you mean.”

“You will soon,” she laughed, as if deciding feeling bad over whatever she’d done wasn’t worth the effort. “Anyways,” she spun toward him, the move slower than he was used to, and he had to marvel at her grace. “What were you writing? Something for school?”

“Just…” he sighed, “promise me you won’t scare any customers off. We have a no shoes policy,” he spoke, gesturing to her feet only to find himself shocked that she, for once, was finally wearing shoes.

She looked proud at his realization, excitedly showing them off. “I knew you’d say that so I came prepared.”

He didn't know what else to say. “What do you want?”

“I want to get to know you!” She rocked on back on her heels as he walked himself back behind the counter. “And how else am I supposed to do that besides talking to you?”

“But _why_ do you want to know _me_?”

“Because you’re my,” Alice paused, thinking to herself as she approached the counter. Leaning forward she rested her elbows on the counter and sighed. “I don’t have the word for it. But you’re my _person_.” She rested her chin in her hands and sighed again, closing her eyes and inhaling. Then, she winced. “I just wished it wasn’t so painful to be around you and your type of people.”

“Every time you speak you make less sense than you did before.”

Alice threw her hands into the air then, exasperated. “I’m speaking English aren’t I?”

It took Jasper a couple of seconds to realize it wasn’t a rhetorical question. “Yes,” he replied, feeling almost dumb. “You’re… not from around here I’m guessing?” It seemed to be the safest deduction he could make.

“Not at all,” she hummed, placing her head back in her hands as she stared at him across the counter. “Not sure where exactly, but not here.”

Right. He could’ve told her that.

“Why do…” Aw, fuck it. If she wasn’t real and he was crazy, it didn’t hurt to ask anyways. “Why are your eyes red?”

She made a thoughtful noise before turning her head up toward the mirror by the front door of the mart. “That is red, isn’t it?” She hummed again. “I’m thinking it’s because I’m new. But that’s the only theory I have so far. In some of my dreams, you have red eyes, too. But,” her disappointment fell over her face quickly as she turned her gaze back toward him, “you don’t right now.”

“Um, or ever?”

“What color is that then,” Alice asked, lifting herself up and leaning _fully_ over the counter now, her eyes trained on his. “It’s strange.”

He almost laughed at that. The girl with the red eyes telling him his hazel ones were strange. But still, without his response all she did was stare very hard at his face, her body almost entirely still.

“Um,” he said, uncomfortable by the sudden level of scrutiny, “they’re hazel.”

“Hazel,” she repeated the word, finally backing off and placing herself back onto her feet. “I like that word.”

“It’s like green and brown combined, kind-of,” he explained, feeling a bit foolish for doing so. But it was clear this girl had zero clue about much of anything. “So you don’t even know colors, huh?”

“I know _of_ colors. And all sorts of things.” She knocked on the side of her head firmly. “I’m not stupid. I know stuff. It’s just,” she wiggled her fingers around, “all mixed up.”

“Mixed up,” he snorted, enjoying that phrasing a bit too much. “You could say that.” Then, he stared back at her, trying to ignore how strange he felt as she smiled back at him. “What _are_ you?”

“Do you need help with your work?” She leaned around him to look at the half-way crumbled papers that had been tossed on the shelf behind him.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

Alice blinked up at him as he shifted his body, placing himself in her line of sight purposefully. “Doing what?”

“Dodging the question about what you are.” He felt like he was talking to a child and suddenly found himself wondering how old she was. Sure, she was little, but he was fairly certain she wasn’t exactly a child. She reminded him too much of the girls in his grade.

Alice was silent for a long few seconds, her happy smile deflating. A frown found its way onto her face and she sighed quietly, muttering softly under her breath.

“What?” Jasper leaned forward, struggling to hear her. “What did you say?”

“Because I don’t know the answer either.” But before Jasper could let that response sink in, she was already speaking. “They think I'm here to hurt you—which is _ridiculous,_ by the way, and very upsetting—but I don't know what to do! If I go to them, they'll keep me away from you, and I can not have that! But," she paused to inhale, and smiled, "it’s okay! Because I know Dr. Cullen knows! And he’ll teach me all about it once I can get everyone else off of my tail. ”

Is that what she was? Some type of escaped mental patient of the Cullen’s dad? It would make more sense if she didn’t have red eyes and couldn’t move faster than his eyes could keep up.

“Why on earth would the Cullen dad know anything about what you are?”

“Because he’s one, too!” She provided the information excitedly, not realizing that Jasper was suddenly lost once more. But before he could vocalize this, she sighed out of frustration. “Ugh! I know I’m not making any sense to you, but it would be really nice if you could believe me.”

“Alice, I have no idea what you want me to believe.” Then, he thought to himself for a moment. “And you never told me what you were doing in my room the other night, or how you got in there in the first place.”

“I did tell you!” She stomped her foot again, and Jasper swore to _god_ it sounded like a tile cracked under her food. “I used the window.”

“And how did you reach it?”

“I jumped?” She spoke the words like it were an obvious thing, and Jasper hated that for a split-second he felt like an idiot for asking.

“You’re going to make me crazy.”

“I’ve read that that’s not a bad thing, depending on the context.”

“Oh, so you can read?” That was genuinely shocking at this point. She could read but didn’t know her colors. Bizarre didn’t begin to cover it.

“Of course I can read. Just because I can’t help things make sense for you yet doesn’t mean they aren’t going to, besides…” Her eyes unfocused mid-sentence and Jasper found himself leaning closer, even reaching out to wave a hand in front of her eyes.

She caught her hand in his just before her vision refocused. “Sorry,” she released his hand quickly, “I shouldn’t do that when I’m not paying attention. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?”

“Yeah,” then, she looked around quickly, quickly grabbing a penny out of the tip jar and showing it to him, “watch.” Holding the copper coin vertically between her fingers, with what looked to be minimal effort, she crushed in with a snap. When she opened her fingers once more the coin was misshapen, impossibly thin in the middle where her fingers met. “Here, want it?”

Jasper took three steps backward, his back hitting the counter and accidentally knocking a display stand of lighters to the ground. “How the fuck did you do that?”

“By squeezing,” she supplied unhelpfully. “You and your people aren’t as strong as we are, but it’s okay.”

“Alice, what the fuck are you?”

“I told you, I don’t _know_.” Then, she gasped, straightening up, her head turning toward the parking lot. “Not now!” She cried, looking panicked suddenly. Then, she turned toward him, “I’ll see you around?”

Before Jasper could reply, she was gone again. As if she’d vanished before his very eyes.

Whatever she was running from, he had no idea. He stared at the door for a couple of minutes, frozen with fear at her abrupt departure, waiting for the shadows from the other night to appear once more. He stood there, completely and utterly still, for what felt like ages before forcing himself to move.

He spent several minutes reorganizing his binder, straightening out the crumpled pages of his essay and frustratingly realizing that he likely had to re-write it all anyways, just to make it look better. Handing in a wrinkled essay wouldn’t look good. Then, he spent a solid ten minutes gathering up the lighters from where they’d spilled all across the counter and onto the floor. Then, he’d spent time organizing and reorganizing them in their display case.

By the time he was bored with that he was nearing the end of his shift when the bell to the front door jingled, causing him to jump in place.

“Easy,” a familiar voice laughed, noting the way Jasper flinched at the sound of customers, “I’m not going to say anything if you’re on your phone or whatever.”

Jasper’s head shot toward the door as Emmett Cullen walked in, followed closely by Rosalie Hale.

“I’m not,” Jasper spoke, his voice catching as he quickly cleared his throat. “On the phone, I mean.”

Emmett simply shrugged before turning to walk down one of the aisles. “Like I said, I didn’t see anything.”

Jasper shuffled awkwardly, eyeing the clock on the wall by the door, noting that he still had twenty minutes before the girl who worked nightshift came in and he was free to go. When he pulled his eyes away from the slowly-ticking clock, he realized Rosalie Hale was still standing by the door. And not only that, she was glaring at him again.

Still jumpy from Alice’s visit, Jasper quickly jumped to irritation. Staring back he made a wide gesture. “Can I help you?”

“No.”

It was the first time he’d heard her speak, now that he thought about it. No matter how breathtaking she was, maybe this was another thing that kept people far away from her; her standoffish demeanor.

Jasper rolled his eyes, turning back toward his backpack and placing his binder back inside. “Well, let me know if I can do anything for you, _ma’am_.” He grumbled the words to himself mainly, although he knew she could hear him.

Suddenly, Alice’s words were in his head again. “ _He’s one, too!”_ She’d declared about Carlisle Cullen, making little sense.

A couple minutes later, Emmett reappeared, depositing an armful of snacks on the counter between them. Jasper silently began to ring him up.

“Slow night?” Emmett asked conversationally.

Jasper shrugged, struggling to smooth out a bag of chips so his scanner would pick up the bar code easier. “I guess so. It was busier earlier.”

“I bet,” Emmett grinned, “the house at the end of the block just had a party busted an hour ago. I’m sure they were all shuffling in and out of here earlier.”

“They were actually, yeah.” Jasper tossed the chips in the plastic bag, despite the scanning device not charging for the item. He wasn’t about to go find another bag to scan; besides, if his boss noticed one simple bag missing, Jasper could just shrug and play dumb.

If Jasper was going to be questioned about anything, it would probably be about the strange girl that had been hanging around earlier.

It wasn’t until he noticed Emmett reach forward and pick up the penny Alice had crushed earlier that Jasper felt himself freeze.

The taller boy looked strangely at the misshapen coin; Jasper fucking swore he watched the guy’s nostrils flare and eyes darken and then quickly shook himself free from his paranoia and continued scanning the snacks.

This was it. He was going crazy. Officially now.

But if he were truly crazy, his schoolmate wouldn’t be holding a mangled coin in his hand. Because that meant that Alice _had_ been there, and she truly _had_ crushed the copper with her bare hands.

“That’s strange, huh?” Emmett asked, the steadiness of his voice sounding suddenly forced. “Look at that, Rose,” and Emmett turned and tossed the coin to her. “It looks like it used to be a penny.”

Rosalie caught the coin but didn’t examine it the way her boyfriend did. Instead, she clenched it tightly in her first and turned around swiftly, striding right out of the store.

“Ah, don’t mind her,” Emmett laughed again, and his voice sounded more like the way Jasper was used to hearing it. “She didn’t wanna come with me on my snack run, but I sort-of made her.”

“For you and your family?” Jasper gestured toward the snacks as he placed the rest of the items on the counter between them, fully bagged.

“Yup! Movie night.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“We know how to keep ourselves entertained, that’s for sure.” Emmett quickly swiped a card—an expensive, heavy-looking things by the sight of it. Further confirming what the entire town seemed to already know, the Cullens were _loaded_. Once the payment went through he looped his arm through the bag and made off toward the front. “See you at school, Jasper.”

But before Emmett could get too far, Jasper called out, “Hey, Emmett?”

“Yeah?” He turned back just as he grabbed the handle to the door.

“Your dad doesn’t work with like, mental patients or whatever, does he?”

Emmett looked puzzled. “Not that I’m aware of, no. He’s more of the emergency room guy, I’m pretty sure. Surgeon stuff.”

Jasper nodded quickly, feeling foolish for asking. “Oh okay, thanks.”

“Why do you ask?” Emmett shot him a curious grin, turning fully back toward the counter.

A part of him wanted to dismiss his inquiry, but Jasper was still so confused by Alice’s presence that he knew he had to say… _something_ … to _someone_ , before he lost his god damned mind. And while Jasper couldn’t exactly call Emmett Cullen a _friend_ , he was surely someone who was friendly enough, and appeared interested in the shit Jasper had to say.

“This girl was in earlier and—I don’t know. I think she was crazy. She’s come in before,” Jasper lied smoothly, “but she always mentions your dad. Rambles on a lot about stuff that doesn’t make sense.”

“That’s weird,” Emmett made a face, shuffling the bag of snacks from one arm to the next. “I mean, I don’t think he works with the psych wing, but I can always ask. I know he floats around a lot.” Then, with his arm now free, he dug his phone out of his pocket. “Here, what’s your number? I can try to sneakily ask and then let you know, if you want.”

Jasper shook his head, “Ah, it’s probably nothing.” It was one thing confessing his run ins with Alice to a peer, but Jasper absolutely did not want to get any actual adults in on this craziness. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Nah, it’s not a big deal. Trust me. I interrogate my old man about weird shit constantly. He won’t suspect a thing.”

Jasper reluctantly recited his number. After all, even if it turned out that Carlisle Cullen didn’t work with crazy people, it’s not like it would help him figure out who or _what_ Alice was any sooner. Or any easier.

“ _He’s one, too_!” Alice had explained excitedly.

“I’ll keep you updated,” Emmett grinned at him as he entered Jasper’s number into his phone, waving on his way out. “See you Monday.”

“Yeah,” Jasper muttered, “see you.”

It wasn’t until his relief came in, a girl named Tina with bright, fire-engine red hair, that Jasper realized something very, very important.

The Cullens lived on the edge of town. But Jasper hadn’t heard or seen any cars pull up or pull away when Emmett and Rosalie had been inside the store.

With that suspicious thought, Jasper walked outside, ready to wait on the curb and chain-smoke until his taxi arrived to take him home.

Sitting there in the cold, watching the smoke and his breath intermingle in the air around him, Jasper let his eyes wander until it fell upon the trash can right outside the front door. Cursing quietly, he stood up to approach it.

It was technically his job to change the trash out before the beginning of the next shift, but he’d sworn that just an hour ago it wasn’t _that_ full.

He paused, stunned just before he was standing directly above it.

It was the food he’d sold to Emmett. Tied up nicely in the bag and just tossed into the garbage.

If Jasper had felt suspicious, or even _confused_ before, he was now entirely convinced that something—something he didn’t quite understand yet—was going on.

And he had a sinking feeling it had something to do with his new little friend…

Stomping out his cigarette he took off toward the main road, letting the streetlights guide his way.

He didn’t have time to wait twenty minutes for this cab. His gut was telling him that he had to get home, and _quickly_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how long this story will end up being. Between 25-30k most likely. I'll be posting new chapters on a weekly basis over the next couple of months. Enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

He was nearly to his street when he heard it.

It sounded like two animals fighting. There was hissing and growling and beyond it all Jasper could hear the sound of actual verbal arguing.

He couldn’t make out any words, but when he heard what distinctly sounded like Alice’s voice, crying out in either pain or frustration, he took off running down the street.

“Alice!” He called out, panicked at the thought of some sort of animal attacking her. Pulling his knife out of his pocket he had it at the ready as he rushed toward where he heard the sound, but the closer he got, he quickly realized that all sounds had ceased. There was no noise any more.

“Alice?” He called out hesitantly, almost feeling silly now. But no. _No_. He knew what he’d heard. That had been Alice’s voice. Digging in his bag he grabbed his keys, clicking on the tiny flashlight attacked to the keychain. There was something. There had to be _something_ to go off of. Some type of clue that he wasn’t completely bonkers and something _had_ just happened here.

He wandered his street for a few minutes then, not far enough down to reach Wil and Meg’s house, but in the back of his mind he knew if any of his neighbors looked out the window to see the local weird foster kid pacing outside their house, they’d probably call the police.

With that realization, he sighed, preparing to click off the light and make his way back to the house. That’s when he spotted it. It looked like a shiny pebble at first, and he almost didn’t approach it.

It wasn’t until he realized it was Alice’s mangled penny that he stumbled backward, completely unbelieving in what he was seeing. Then, just as quickly, he rushed forward and reached for it, snatching it off of the pavement before pocketing it and running home.

It was impossible, he thought to himself as he quietly walked by the living room, where his foster parents were enjoying their nightly movie, and rushed up the stairs and into his bedroom. It was absolutely impossible for this penny to be here.

He’d seen Rosalie Hale stalk away with it with his own two eyes.

Minutes before Emmett Cullen walked out with a bag full of food that he immediately trashed.

“ _See you Monday,_ ” the larger boy had declared.

Even as he attempted to morph it, gripping the penny as hard as he could, he couldn’t get the copper to bend any way at all, only proving a few things: that Alice was real, that she absolutely wasn’t human, and that whatever it was that _she_ was (and even Alice didn’t know) the Cullens knew about it.

 _Yeah,_ Jasper thought with resolve, _I’ll see you Monday._

* * *

What was supposed to be a peaceful weekend, with a Sunday off for once, turned into a sleep-deprived, two-day-long nightmare. Jasper couldn’t sleep, for starters. When he did he slept fitfully, and when he dreamed he dreamed about Alice. Only instead of animal noises overpowering her voice all Jasper _heard_ was her voice, crying and screaming and begging for mercies. It was agonizing.

By the time Meg dropped him off at school—he’d missed the bus, much to her annoyance and Jasper’s exasperation—he had thankfully been given enough time the day before to think up a game plan.

He’d approach the Cullens at lunch and demand to speak to them. Or, well. At least to speak to Emmett and Rosalie. Because if any of them knew something—and Jasper suspected all of them did—those two definitely did.

The first half of the day progressed uneventfully. He was starting to think that his teachers were growing confused with his consistent attendance in their classes, they way they all seemed genuinely surprised each and every time he entered a new classroom before the bell rang.

It would’ve been highly annoying if he hadn’t been so thoroughly distracted.

It wasn’t until fourth period when he realized that there was a wrench that had been thrown into his plans: Emmett, who usually sat across from him in Geography, was nowhere to be found.

Jasper cursed mentally before excusing himself to the bathroom after about twenty minutes into the lecture. Instead of heading to the bathroom, he walked straight to the front of the building and out the doors that led to the parking lot.

He couldn’t find a single one of the Cullens cars.

“Fuck.”

His only hope now was that Alice would appear to him at some point today.

If he was suspicious now, their refusal to show up today just about solidified some level of, what? Guilt? Responsibility? Whatever it was, the Cullens knew something was up, and now he had to get to the bottom of this.

Opening his phone, Jasper penned a text to Emmett. The day before he’d sent Jasper a friendly text, informing him that, ‘No, sorry. Dad only works in the ER apparently. Let me know if you see your crazy friend again though!’

**What happened to ‘see you Monday’ ???** ****

He wasn’t just frustrated, he was strangely exhilarated by the turn of events now. Not that he _wanted_ some weird type of bizarr-o entertainment in this tiny town. The town itself was weird enough on it’s own, but small towns, Jasper was coming to find, were notoriously boring.

He had two options now: return to class and wait out the rest of the day, or ditch school in search of Alice.

And something told him that choosing either option would only make different areas of his life harder.

His fingers twitched as he contemplated his decisions. A part of him wanted to light up a quick cigarette but knew that he was too close to the school grounds to be able to get away with it. Lifting his head up toward the overcast sky he glared at the steady stream of rain falling above and then sighed.

Turning around he walked back into the doors and toward class.

* * *

The Cullens didn’t show up the next day, or the next.

It wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary for the group of kids. Or at least, that’s what Jasper had come to learn over his months spent in the tiny town. And if there was one thing small towns _did_ love, it was gossip. He overheard his fair share between school and work that he usually didn’t need to ask around. But this week felt different.

By Thursday there had still been no sight of them.

Ben gave him a lift to work from school; Jasper always tossed him more bills than necessary for the short ride. After all, the boy lived right around the block from the mini-mart, so it wasn’t as if he were burning any more gas than usual on his rides home, but Ben had never asked for money in exchange for the short ride, and had never complained about doing it either.

They weren’t _friends_ exactly—back in Oakland Ben would’ve been the type of kid to get bullied pretty hard, even if he was a nice guy—but as someone who didn’t exactly _have_ friends, Jasper could say that Ben might be considered something of the sort.

Just last week, Jasper would’ve put him and Emmett in that same category. But now, Jasper was certain something was up.

“Happen to know where the Cullens disappeared to?” He dared to ask just before they rounded the final corner onto the main road where most of the shops in town were. That way, if Ben knew nothing it wouldn’t leave an awkward lull in conversation. The ride would be over in two minutes, either way.

“Nah. I think they’re on another one of their random hiking trips.”

Jasper nodded. He’d heard all about Dr. and Mrs. Cullen’s strange family trips. He tried hard to imaginesomeone like Rosalie hiking and camping in the woods and hard a hard time visualizing it.

“Angela did seem,” Ben sighed, hesitating before speaking. “I don’t know. I think she thinks there’s something wrong.”

That had Jasper’s attention immediately. “Why does she think that?” He tried not to seem overly eager to hear Ben’s response but he couldn’t help it.

“Ah, she’s an anxious thing anyways. But she’s friends with Bella Hale. Says that they had plans to study the other night and Bella didn’t even text an explanation. Just,” he shrugged, “didn’t come to school and didn’t text her.”

“That is weird,” Jasper muttered under his breath. Out of all the Cullen kids it seemed Bella was the one that took school more seriously. Before he’d dropped his AP classes in order to skate by in the basic-level ones, she’d been in each and every one of them. _And_ she was still a junior. Jasper would be shocked if she didn't end up Valedictorian by the time she graduated.

“But again, I’m sure it’s nothing. And if it is something,” Ben pulled the car into the tiny parking lot of the convenience store and parked, before turning to Jasper, “then we’ll know seen enough, right? Not like a town this small can keep many secrets.”

Ben, someone who had lived in Forks his entire life, seemed both unbothered as well as confident that they’d find out the reason of their absence soon enough.

And by the time the end of the day on Friday rolled around, Jasper found himself significantly calmed with the thought.

It wasn't until he was already in bed that night when he noticed something… off.

He jumped in bed, startling himself fully awake. Groaning, he threw his head back against his pillow and pulled his comforter over his head. He had been _so_ close to sleep before his body had jerked itself awake. Now, as he struggled to even his breathing and calm himself down, he froze as he heard something.

The house he lived in was old. It had belonged to Meg’s family when she was a girl. Meaning the floors creaked and groaned at the slightest step.

So either Jasper was hearing things.

Or someone was in his room.

Already trying to calm himself he focused on his breathing. But as the floorboards creaked slowly, as if someone —or something—was walking around his bed, surveying him, Jasper knew he couldn’t just lie there and wait.

Slowly, trying not to be seen beneath the thick blanket, he reached over and grabbed his knife. Mentally, he counted to three, and then as quickly as he could, he threw the blanket off the bed and shot up onto his feet.

He spent a few panicked seconds looking around the room, breathing heavily with his knife pointed ahead of him.

There was no one there.

"Alice?" He forced himself to whisper into the darkness, feeling ridiculous as soon as her name passed his lips. Oh no, Alice would've made her presence known without a second hesitation. She was nowhere to be found.

Maybe he _was_ going crazy, he realized as he folded the knife back up and tossed it behind him onto the bed. Maybe his medical records weren’t incorrect, exactly. Just incomplete. Maybe Wil and Meg would understand and they could help him set up an appointment at the—

Before he could understand what was happening, he was across the room, the wind knocked completely out of him as pain reverberated through his body, his head knocking hard against the back of the wall, sending blackness across his vision.

He couldn’t even gasp in pain. Someone was gripping him by the throat so hard that he was scared they might crush his windpipe. All he could do was kick his feet helplessly and uselessly tug at whatever was holding him as his vision started to blacken around the edges.

“Where is she?” A voice growled in his face.

That’s when Jasper finally noticed the man pinning him against his bedroom wall. Jasper’s grip on his wrists was weakening as he felt his consciousness begin to slip away. His assailant seemed to realize that he was about to go nowhere fast though, and quickly loosened his grip just enough that Jasper was able to choke in a breath of air.

He gripped the man’s arms as adrenaline coursed through his body, but no matter how hard he tugged, the man’s grip did not relent. It was when Jasper looked up, staring back at his face, that he felt himself shrinking back in fear.

His eyes were a dark, terrifying red.

Jasper’s mind went straight to Alice and suddenly it all made sense.

“I don’t make it a habit of playing with my food, so I’m just going to ask one more time,” but then the man, his long blond hair pulled back into a low ponytail, laughed. “Well. I do sometimes. But I’m feeling pretty sated right now. You should feel better; you’ve caught me in a good mood.”

Jasper tried kicking the man, but when pain shot through his foot he winced, sucking in a breath between his teeth. It was like he was made of stone.

“Where,” the man growled the word low, leaning closer to Jasper’s face, “is she?”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” Jasper rasped the words out. They felt like a lie the moment he spoke them. It had to be Alice. This all had to have been about Alice.

“I’m going to ask. One more time,” he growled angrily, and then his grip was fierce, much like it had been before, and Jasper was suddenly sure that he would die if the man didn’t release him soon. “I smell her all over here. All over you. I know she’s in this pathetic little town. And either you’ll tell me where your little friend is, or I’ll kill you, too.”

Jasper struggled for air as he focused hard on the man’s words. “I don’t know,” he managed to wheeze around the demon’s grip. “I don’t know where.”

The red-eyed man sighed, stepping farther back as he shook his head. “Then her pet will have to pay the price.”

The sound of glass shattering was the last thing Jasper heard before unconsciousness claimed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The response to this story has been so fun! Thanks for reading everyone! Again, it's not going to be too long of a story, but it's a neat little project to work on in between WitD chapters.
> 
> Also! Happy NaNoWriMo to my fellow writers! I'm hoping to wrap this story up quickly as part of my 50k attempt before doing my darnedest to finish WitD before the new year, so keep your fingers crossed on that one. I appreciate all the comments and kudos. Be sure to follow me on Tumblr @ flowerslut to keep up with all-things-fic, and on Instagram @ shutupmaybe just 'cause. 😛😛😛


	5. Chapter 5

He wasn’t out for long. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds before he was blinking himself back into awareness, the noise around him forcing his mind back to attention. It sounded almost like animals were fighting close by. But before the happenings of the last few minutes rushed back at him, he looked around his bedroom, stunned. The glass everywhere was the least of his worries; the window was absolutely mangled, as if a wrecking ball had been driven through it.

It wasn’t until two figures materialized in front of him that he even thought to gather the breath to scream.

“It’s okay,” a woman spoke, and her hand was placed over his mouth before he could make a peep. “We’re here to help.”

He didn’t recognize the woman, with her soft face and auburn hair, but she had familiar golden eyes. Who she was struck him just before he turned his eyes to Bella, who was standing above them both, her eyes wild as she spun around the room.

“Emmett and Rose have him on the run,” she spoke into the room. “We need to move though. The woman will be back to clean up anything he missed.”

“I’m so sorry dear,” Mrs. Cullen—Jasper had never seen her before, but it _had_ to have been her—apologized as she shook her head, “So, so sorry.”

“We need to go,” Edward was suddenly in the window frame. “I lost track of her and our new _friend_ is close to running off again.”

“I—what the—” Jasper struggled to find words to say as Mrs. Cullen slowly helped him onto his feet. “What’s going on—”

Edward was in front of him faster than Jasper could anticipate. “We don’t have time to explain right now, sorry. You have to trust us, though.”

“Why the fuck—how did—why should I?!” Jasper could feel himself frowning hysterical.

“There’s no time,” and suddenly Edward was across the room, Jasper’s old worn backpack in his hands. “You have less than five minutes to gather up your things.”

“All of them?” His head was reeling.

“Everything you care about at least.”

Jasper turned toward Bella, praying she would be the reasonable one here, and explain what was going on. But she was suddenly nowhere to be found. Both she and their adoptive mother were gone, and it was only Jasper and Edward in the room.

“Jasper,” Edward called his attention toward him and was quickly pushing the backpack into his shaking hands. “I know this is all very disorienting but I need you to trust me.” Then, he made a face, as if contemplating something. “You need to trust _Alice_.”

Jasper blinked at him, stunned. “You know Alice?”

“I’ll explain more later, I promise. But we have to get out of here, _now_.”

“I—I can’t just leave! Wilson and Meg! We have to get them, too—what if that thing—we have to get—!”

“Jasper,” and when Edward grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him quickly, the pain in Jasper’s body was suddenly at the forefront of his mind, “you have to focus. I’ll explain more later. Get everything that you don’t want to lose forever, and do it _now._ I’ll be back in two minutes and whatever you don’t have packed you’re leaving.”

And with that, Edward was gone. Jasper stared at the empty space the boy had just been standing for several seconds before he was rushing around the room.

Years spent in the foster care system made it so that Jasper was good at packing up all of his belongings into a bag or two and moving at a moment’s notice. Because of it, he’d gotten good at keeping the amount of possessions he owned fairly low.

He had to dig through his closet to find his more valuable possessions, but by the time Edward was back Jasper had filled both his backpack as well as a smaller drawstring bag.

“Got everything?”

“Everything that matters.” Jasper still didn’t understand how Edward seemed to just be _appearing_ out of nowhere, but the boy promised he’d explain things later, and although Jasper had half of a clue what was happening, he was going to hold him to that.

“This is going to be slightly difficult, since you’re a little taller than I am. Whatever you do, keep your eyes closed.”

Jasper didn’t have time to ask why.

The disoriented feeling he’d been battling took over completely as wind rushed by him. Jasper had to remind himself to close his eyes and as he did it allowed him for orient himself slightly. Edward was carrying him, over his shoulders like he weighed nothing. The younger boy was a hard, solid thing beneath Jasper, moving so fast that it almost felt like free falling. Jasper’s stomach was in his throat.

A couple of times he was jostled enough that he groaned in pain, his injuries from before still unacknowledged. Jasper hoped that wherever they were going, Edward’s dad would be there. He was sure he was going to desperately need a doctor after this night.

After a few minutes all movement ceased. With his eyes still closed, the second Edward lowered him into his feet Jasper fell immediately to the ground, landing roughly on his side. Seconds later, when he finally opened his eyes he was staring at a bright white carpet.

A sudden wave of nausea fell over him, and he was afraid he was going to be sick.

Closing his eyes, he rolled onto all fours, pressing his forehead against the soft carpet. He didn’t know where Edward had gone, or where he was, truly, but he knew that he was about to absolutely _ruin_ this rug.

“Not so fast,” and, moving much slower this time, Edward was there again, pulling Jasper back into a sitting position before placing a waste basket between his knees. “There. I’ll be back in a minute.”

And what a long minute it was. Not even seconds after Edward disappeared Jasper began to vomit, the contents of his stomach violently emptying itself. The throwing up didn’t even help Jasper feel better. If anything, it made him feel ten times worse. It exacerbated the horrible pain in his head, made his sore throat and neck worse, and he just knew all the heaving was going to damage his ribs even further; and he _definitely_ had some cracked ribs for sure. That was an injury he knew well.

It wasn’t until he heard what he _swore_ sounded like his name being yelled in the distance that he dared to lift his head up from the bin, finding himself sitting on the floor of a very fancy-looking living room.

Seconds later, a blur of blue and black flickered into the room and he was being embraced tightly.

“Hey—gentle! _Gentle!_ ” Edward hissed, also now in the room.

“Sorry!” Alice cried out, her face pressed against Jasper’s chest as she loosened the hold she had on the injured teenager. “I’m so, so, so sorry Jasper!”

“Alice?” With his left hand he pushed the trash bin away, using a foot to slide it further from his senses; he _detested_ the smell of vomit. Once the bin was out from between his legs Alice filled the spot, her tiny arms adjusting to wrap around his torso as she pressed her face against his sweatshirt. With shaking arms he found himself returning the embrace, feeling strangely comforted by her presence.

“I’m so sorry, Jazz!” She made a frustrated noise. “Ugh! And I can’t even hug you all the way and that’s so _frustrating_!”

“Alice,” Edward’s voice took on a warning tone from where he stood above them.

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” She spoke quickly. “I’m not even hurting him! And I’m not even thirsty! See? Look! Nothing will happen!”

Jasper looked up just as Edward’s glare fixed itself on the top of Alice’s head. “Don’t you dare.”

“Ugh! Whatever!” And Alice pressed the front of her face against Jasper, burrowing into his clothes so her face was obstructed from view.

“You two know each other?” Jasper rasped the words out, shifting slightly under Alice’s hard embrace. Sure she was little, but she was so _bony_. And still, her strange strength baffled him.

“We’re newly acquainted,” Edward’s voice was even as he continued to glare.

“Oh, yes!” Alice lifted her head up enough to smile widely at Jasper. “Edward and Carlisle and everyone are being so, so kind! Teaching me all sorts of things!”

Jasper had never noticed before how her teeth were so perfect. They glinted in the light and Jasper could almost _feel_ the blush begin to spread across his cheeks. She was just… so damn close to him…

“Well if they know everything then they can probably start off by telling me what the fuck is going on.”

“Oh, well for starters—”

“ _Alice,”_ Edward hissed, and Jasper hated the way she flinched, her joy and excitement immediately deflating. Jasper pulled her tighter against him and turned his own glare up toward the red-haired boy.

“Seriously? I get attacked in my room, you practically fucking kidnap me, and now I’m not even allowed to know what’s going on?”

“There are some things Alice needs to keep to herself,” Edward directed the second half of his sentence toward the tiny girl curled up in Jasper’s lap. “And we’ll explain things soon. We have to wait.”

“For what?!”

“The rest of my family to arrive.”

Jasper breathed in slowly, trying not to wince as he tried to gather up his patience and put it to good use. “So everyone’s in on this… whatever it is that’s going on?”

“Yes. There wasn’t just a man that attacked you. There was a woman, too.”

“What do they want from…” But then Jasper remembered what the demon had hissed at him.

_“Where is she?”_

“They want you?” Jasper spoke to the girl whose arms hadn’t once budged from around him.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated herself again, sounding more and more pitiful each time she apologized.

“Why are they after you?”

“I don’t belong to them,” Alice was sitting up suddenly, her arms now wrapped around herself as she stared blankly at his chest. “I _don’t_.”

“Of course not,” Edward chimed in, his tone soothing for the first time that night, and Jasper couldn’t understand what had suddenly caused the boy’s face to soften so dramatically. “You’re your own person.”

Alice nodded quickly at that statement. Then, her eyes found Jasper’s again. “And you’re my person, too.”

Feeling a bit uncomfortable at the declaration Jasper let his eyes flicker to Edward quickly, only to see that the red-head was back to frowning at the red-eyed girl. Only this time his gaze held far less ire.

“I promise we will explain as much as we can once everyone gets back, but it’s important that you know a few things first.”

Jasper nodded, shifting once more as Alice leaned forward again, embracing him gently and resting her head against his chest.

“There are going to be a lot of things you learn tonight, but the most important thing is secrecy. We can’t tell you exactly what Alice and,” he paused, hesitating, “or my family and I are. And that’s because if you found out, you would have to die. So don’t take it personally when we don’t get into specifics on that one.”

Jasper forced himself to calmly nod even as his mind went haywire. What they are? Did he mean besides fucking _human_?! And what? They’d kill him if he found out? It was all so ridiculous.

“Also, my family and I aren’t like other members of our kind.”

“Me, too!” Alice chimed in. “I’m not like the other guys either!”

Jasper quirked an eyebrow. “Meaning?”

“We don’t kill people. Simple as that.”

Jasper wanted to snap then, his temper beginning to wear thin. First, Edward said Jasper would need to die if he didn’t keep his mouth shut, and then Edward claimed that he and his family didn’t kill people. Jasper made sure to remember that contradiction for when the rest of the Cullens made their appearance. “And… usually your ‘kind’ does that? Like, often?”

“Very.”

“That’s fucking comforting.” Jasper found himself holding Alice tighter before loosening his grip. He didn’t want to hurt the tiny girl. She sighed quietly against him.

“We try our best to blend in because we want to live amongst people and be normal. The last thing we ever want for our presence is for it to bring harm to another person. It goes against everything we believe in and stand for.”

“So what? You’re the good guys then.” Jasper couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice. But when Alice shifted in his lap and spoke, he found himself regretting the jab.

“We’re not bad people,” Alice whispered softly, and then, even quieter: “I’m not a bad person. I can make good choices. I _can_. Carlisle said so himself.”

“And lastly,” Edward spoke again, pulling Jasper’s attention back up. “We—my family and I—” and as Alice lifted her head up to speak, Edward continued, “ _and_ Alice—will support you in whatever you choose to do from here on out, as long as we’re able to do it safely.”

“Safely…”

“Safe for you, and safe for us. It has to be both.”

“Does one contradict the other?” Jasper challenged, not liking Edward’s phrasing.

Edward, apparently, didn’t enjoy the fact that Jasper had caught his particular wording. His jaw twitched before he spoke. “It can.”

“How much longer before everyone is back?” Jasper turned his neck slightly and winced at the pain. “I think your dad needs to look me over.” Then, Jasper paused, thinking to himself. “He really is a doctor, right? For uh, _my_ kind of people?”

Edward nodded, deflating as the topic steered back toward more neutral ground. “Yes, he’s a real doctor. He’ll probably be back before everyone else. He knows you’re injured; he’ll want to make you a priority once they’ve taken care of things.”

Instead of asking what that meant—after all, if Edward was to be trusted, Jasper would find out soon enough—he turned toward the dark-haired girl in his lap. If he didn’t know any better he would’ve sworn she was asleep. But there was no steady breathing. In fact, Jasper didn’t feel much of _anything_ from Alice’s still form. Her body was cold, hard, and entirely unmoving.

“Alice—”

She girl clicked her tongue as she sat up, rolling her eyes before meeting Edward’s glare and cutting off his words. “Yeah, I know.”

“They’re after that guy, right? The one who attacked me?” Edward didn’t nod, but he did meet Jasper’s eyes. For some reason, that was all the confirmation Jasper needed. “What are they going to do with him? Should we call the police?”

It was the last thing Jasper ever thought to do in any situation, and it was likely the first time Jasper had ever spoken that sentence out loud. Especially with the amount of time’s he’d had the police called on _him_. He’d learned early on that he and law enforcement didn’t quite mix.

“No. My family will handle it.”

“What are you? Vigilantes? Super-heros?” It felt like a stupid question but Jasper was running out of ideas. And with the happenings of the last several minutes, his brain was struggling to come up with any answer.

“What’s a vigilante?” Alice asked, lifting her head up high enough to turn and fix her curious gaze on Jasper’s face.

“Um,” Jasper felt stupid for a moment, his mind drawing a blank as he stared back at her soft, beautiful face. Her wide, red eyes were enough of a reality check to bring him back to her question. _Focus_ , he demanded of himself. “Someone who takes the law into their own hands.”

“The law?” Her brow furrowed, Jasper’s explanation only causing her to look more confused. “Does he mean—”

“No,” Edward’s voice was stern as he closed his eyes and ran a hand down his face. “No. Not those.”

Alice nodded once before turning back up toward Jasper. “Sorry. The only laws I know I’m not supposed to talk to you about.”

It was then that a buzzing began to sound from what sounded like Edward’s pocket.

“I’ll be right back,” Edward muttered as he stalked away, looking frustrated with Alice’s nonsensical ramblings.

“I have so much to tell you,” Alice whispered, leaning her head back down against Jasper’s chest as she let out a sigh. “I really hope they’ll let me. It’s all up in the air now—I can’t see which way they’ll go.” As she spoke, Jasper couldn’t help but notice how Edward—standing in the center of a not-too-far-away kitchen—was glaring towards Alice even as he spoke quietly and quickly into his phone. “They made me promise that I’ll let you choose, but I really, really, really hope you choose this. And me.”

Not knowing what to do with his hands, Jasper started running them up and down her back. He frowned as he felt her ribs under his palms, even with her layers of clothes keeping their skin from touching. She was too skinny.

“What am I choosing between?” He asked, more content to focus on Alice than he was his strange schoolmate standing barely twenty feet away. “I don’t understand.”

“You will,” she hummed, her eyes closing again. And with that Jasper could almost pretend that she was a normal girl. Almost. “At least, I hope you will.”

Seconds after Edward began to approach them again—phone pocketed and frown ever-present—Alice shot out of his embrace, turning in what appeared to be a random direction. The noise that erupted from her was so loud, Jasper’s hands automatically went to cover his ears.

The animalistic screech even made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. He’d never heard such a noise come from a person before.

Edward flickered in between them in an instant. “Alice! No! Stop!” he screamed, and it was then that Jasper realized what was happening. Edward was protecting _him_. “It won’t happen! I won’t let it!”

Alice shrieked again, and Jasper couldn’t control the way he flinched, backing up further into the front of the couch he was leaning against. She was absolutely _terrifying_.

“Alice,” Edward’s voice was no longer a shout, but the words were still stern. “Look. Do you see me letting anything like that happen? Get a grip! Look!” And he gestured toward Jasper, cowering behind him. “Look what you’re doing! Get a hold of yourself!”

Alice’s frenzied gaze ripped itself from Edward to Jasper, and when her red eyes met his own, Jasper somehow knew that whatever the Cullens and Alice were, it _definitely_ wasn’t human.

Her growls quickly turned into sobs, and when she crumpled to the ground Jasper felt the unexplainable urge to run over and gather her into his arms.

“No,” Edward held a hand back toward Jasper, not even looking toward him. His eyes were solely on Alice’s back as she sobbed into the carpet. “Don’t. She’s too dangerous.”

“I’m not going to hurt him,” she wailed, her bell-like voice sounding completely heartbroken. The sound twisted something inside Jasper’s chest. Slowly, he moved himself up until he was scooting himself backward onto the cushions of the couch. “I’m so, so sorry Jasper. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay—”

“Stop,” Edward snapped, turning to look at him finally. “My family is about to be home. You better sit put.” Then, he turned back to Alice. “You, too. Rosalie won’t be too happy if you’re hanging all over him.”

Jasper didn’t even stop to attempt to contemplate what _that_ meant. “Did they get him?” He asked instead. “They guy who attacked me?”

“No.”

“Then—okay, I need to go back home then. I need—” alarm filled him so acutely that he shot to his feet. “Wilson! Meg! That thing could get them! We have to go back—”

His attempt to move forward was halted by a firm hand on his shoulder. Edward wasn’t even looking at him. “Jasper. Sit down.”

“And just let that fucking monster attack them, too? Fat fucking chance—”

When he smacked Edward’s hand, attempting to jerk himself out of the redhead’s grip, Jasper winced with pain. He’d hit walls with more give than the boy. “What the fuck?”

“Don’t hurt him!”

“Stay where you are Alice!”

“We need to go back!”

“Everyone calm down.” Jasper flinched when suddenly Dr. Cullen was in the room, flanked by Bella and his wife.

“You need to stop Rosalie,” Alice cried out desperately. “To talk to her! Please,” she begged, hysterical. “It isn’t his fault! It’s _mine!_ She can’t hurt him. Please, please—”

Jasper watched as Bella swooped in, helping the pleading girl off of the ground, leading her into the kitchen.

“Nothing is going to happen to Jasper,” he heard Mrs. Cullen’s voice chime in, but the soothing tone of her voice did very little to calm his nerves.

“Are you alright?” Dr. Cullen asked, crouching down before Jasper as the rest of his family flocked to calm down the wailing Alice. It was hard for Jasper to focus on the doctor.

“No,” the word fell out with a sarcastic laugh. “Nobody will fucking tell me what’s going on.”

“I mean physically,” the blond man corrected himself, not looking shocked by Jasper’s frustrated words. Then, with slow movements he reached out toward Jasper’s neck, “Do you mind?”

Jasper went to shake his head but then winced. Then, Dr. Cullen sent him through a series of random tasks, asking him to swallow, move his head, reach up and over his body. He even requested Jasper to remain still while he gently poked and prodded at Jasper’s very-obviously cracked ribs.

“Edward.”

The boy appeared, holding his hand out towards his father. Jasper immediately knew what it was when Dr. Cullen grabbed the tiny bottle and Jasper heard the pills shaking around.

“Now, there isn’t much we can do about the ribs, but this might help with the pain.” And Edward appeared with a glass of water in the next instant, holding it out for Jasper to take.

“Uh, no thanks.” Jasper turned his nose up at the offered white pills. “I’ll be fine.”

“There’s no need to play tough,” Dr. Cullen offered him a kind smile, still offering the pain of pills in his outstretched palm. “It’ll help with the ribs and with your neck.”

“It took six weeks for my Mom to make the jump from oxys to heroin when I was seven,” Jasper snapped, meeting the doctor’s kind gaze with an even stare. “I’d rather not.”

To his credit, Dr. Cullen didn’t flinch at the words. “Then maybe some ibuprofen? Or a couple of Tylenol?”

Jasper stared blankly at the man for a few seconds. Up close, the man barely looked thirty. He still had the same pale skin and strange golden eyes as the rest of his family, but now that Jasper was really looking at the guy, something seemed off. He barely looked old enough to be a doctor, let alone a surgeon as prestigious as he apparently was.

Wilson had talked at great lengths about Dr. Cullen. Not all the gossip was good, but one message that always was delivered was that he was an incredible doctor.

At the thought of his foster father, Jasper shook his head. He couldn’t think about cracked ribs when he still didn’t know how the Cullens had gotten _them_ to safety.

“Where are Wilson and Meg?”

The room was suddenly silent.

And when Mrs. Cullen walked back into the room, sitting herself on the couch a couple of feet away from Jasper, her face crestfallen, Jasper’s stomach fell into his toes.

_No…_

Edward was the first one who spoke. “You weren’t the first person he visited tonight.”

Jasper felt his bones turn to lead. The monster had visited them first, meaning only one thing… “They’re dead aren’t they?” Biting his tongue he curled into himself slightly, focusing on the pain that reverberated through his body. He knew the pain would keep him grounded. He didn’t have time to get caught up in his head. “He killed them.”

“I’m so sorry,” Mrs. Cullen reached out, resting a tentative hand on his shoulder. Her hand was cold and hard, just like the rest of the Cullens.

“I have to go back, then,” pushing down his shock he met the young doctors eyes. “The police will want to know what happened, I… what am I supposed to tell them? It can’t be the truth! They’ll think I’m crazy and—”

“You can’t go back right now, Jasper.” Carlisle’s eyes were kind but his voice was firm. “There isn’t going to be a house to go back to.”

“What do you mean?” The words were spoken slowly as the shock began to fully sink in.

“I’m sorry!” Alice’s shrieking voice chimed in from the kitchen, causing Jasper to jump in his seat. Bella was quickly shushing her. Jasper heard something that sounded like ‘it’s not your fault.’

“What happened to them?” Jasper demanded, turning his firm gaze on Dr. Cullen as he worked to keep his temper under control. “What did that thing do to them?”

Instead, Carlisle turned toward Edward and the two met eyes for a few seconds. When Edward shook his head ever-so-slightly, Carlisle turned back around to face him with a sign. “I’m sure you’re aware that my family and I are… different.”

“Cut to the point here.”

“The man and woman who tried to hurt you got to Wilson and Meg, first. You’re right. But the way our kind kills people is very distinct you see. And when you’re like us there are a few rules, one of which is that we have to kill discreetly. This man for whatever reason, did not do that.” Carlisle paused, as if waiting for Jasper to melt down or freak out, which ever happened first, but Jasper simply stared back, needing him to continue. “Of course, we don’t take lives like most of our kind.”

“I’ve heard.”

“Evidence must never be found.” Carlisle spoke simply, letting the words sink in.

Jasper stared back at the man, at his strange golden eyes—eyes the same exact color of all these other people he ‘supposedly’ didn’t have any actual blood relation to—and couldn’t believe what was happening. “So did you guys set the house on fire, or?”

“Gas explosion,” Edward supplied, as if sensing that Carlisle really, _really_ didn’t want to explain to Jasper what they’d been forced to do to cover up the horrific murder of his foster parents.

“What if they think _I_ had something to do with it, huh?” It was an old defense mechanism. Even in terrifying times, Jasper knew self-preservation had to be his top priority. “I don’t exactly have the cleanest record. I—not that I’d ever fucking kill anyone, but still. What if they—”

“No one is going to think you had anything to do with this,” Mrs. Cullen chimed in, suddenly sitting two feet closer to him, her hand back on his shoulder.

“We need to come up with a simple alibi,” Carlisle nodded, giving his wife a thin smile. “You worked tonight, right?”

Jasper shook his head, “Not tonight. I don’t work until Sunday morning.”

“He got on the bus after school,” Edward commented, and Jasper shot him a quick glare. The Cullens hadn't been at school today. The only way Edward would've known that is if they'd been stalking him. “Went straight home as far as I or anyone else knows.”

“Then you snuck out,” Carlisle supplied simply. “Any classmates you might have been seen with?”

Jasper shook his head. Despite the fact that his mind was racing and his body was aching he knew he had to at least respond to simple questions. Sorting out the how’s and why’s weren’t something he could afford to do right now. The first thing he needed to ensure was that he couldn’t get locked up because some monsters murdered his foster parents.

As he thought about that particular fact, a wave of grief fell over him. He didn’t hold any solid affections for the pair, but they’d done more than most people, taking in some delinquent who’d been repeatedly fucked by the system. They’d _helped_ him. They absolutely hadn’t deserved to be killed in their sleep by a demon.

“No. I don’t hang out with people.”

“Well, now you do.” Edward chimed in. “As far as anyone knows, you were hanging out with Emmett tonight.”

“Doing what?” Jasper had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Sure, Emmett was a friendly guy, but Jasper wasn’t the ‘social’ type.

Edward looked to be hiding amusement in his expression. “He’ll have some ideas.”

The sound of hissing brought Jasper’s attention back toward the kitchen.

“Um! A little help!” Bella’s voice called out quickly.

Jasper turned his head only to see Bella attempting to hold Alice still, but Alice’s feet were dragging themselves across the tiled floor and back toward the room they were all sitting in. Carlisle was across the room quickly, his hands pressing firmly against Alice’s shoulders.

Alice was growling again, and when Edward turned to help his family out, he felt the overwhelming urge to jump in or say something. For god’s sake, Alice was _tiny_. It was overkill for all three of them to have to subdue her.

Brushing off Mrs. Cullen’s hand, Jasper stood up, attempting to approach as well. “Hey—”

“Don’t you move a muscle.”

Jasper jumped at the appearance of another voice, and when Rosalie Hale strode into the room, looking positively _dangerous_ , Jasper felt all the hair on his body rise up on edge. He’d never found himself intimidated by the girl before, but now, a strange feeling in his stomach seemed to _promise_ nothing good if he didn’t listen to her.

Alice’s hissing turned to growls and quickly she sounded once more like a rabid animal.

“Oh, will you shut up!” Rosalie turned toward the tiny, shrieking girl, glaring. “It’s your fault we’re in this mess anyways!”

“Rose,” Mrs. Cullen’s voice was chiding, but even as she stood up to speak to her foster daughter, Rosalie continued.

“Two years, Esme? That’s all I can get now? Before some newborn lunatic has to come and upend everything! I _like_ living here, and I don’t _want_ to move yet!”

“No one said anything about leaving.” Esme spoke calmly, and Jasper’s attention was immediately on the back door where Emmett was entering the house. He half waved toward Jasper as he approached the scene, but Jasper could only gape at the blonde girl’s fury.

Rosalie laughed sarcastically. Jasper couldn’t help but notice how it was a near- _perfect_ sound, almost hypnotizing in its clarity. “And what? We pretend that had nothing to do with all this death?”

Alice growled again, but by the time Jasper turned his head back toward the kitchen, something strange had happened.

He didn’t even exactly _see_ it happen, but in an instant, Bella, Edward, and Carlisle were either on the ground or across the room, the noise of wood splintering and plaster crunching loud for a good two seconds. And in a flash of what Jasper could only describe as _wind,_ Alice was standing in the small space between himself and Rosalie, growling furiously.

Rosalie didn’t even react to Alice’s noise, instead staring down her nose at the girl.

“The second you touch him, we get to feed you to the wolves little girl.”

“ _I’m_ not going to hurt him,” Alice screeched, taking a stance so low Jasper had to step back to actually see what she was doing. “And neither are you.” His heels knocked against the couch and he stumbled slightly.

“Rose,” Emmett was directly behind her now, placing tentative hands on her shoulder, “please try not to aggravate the newborn.”

“Oh, forgive me for being pissed off, Em!”

“Rosalie,” and Carlisle was suddenly standing next to the blonde as if he hadn’t just been tossed _through_ his kitchen cabinets by the girl standing guard before him. Not only did he look entirely unbothered but the only thing out of place was a few hairs. “We’ve trusted Alice this far. Let’s not turn down her help now.”

“We wouldn’t need her help if she’d stayed away,” Rosalie was glaring daggers down at Alice, and the look only grew more severe when Alice straightened up and backed up slightly. When she reached behind her, Jasper didn’t hesitate to grab her hand in his, wanting to tug her closer to him and further away from the blonde’s ire. Rosalie huffed then, her gaze now on their joined hands and turned abruptly to walk away, “This is ridiculous. The only reason those two are in Forks is because of her.”

“It’s _not_ my fault!” Alice stomped her foot, and the sound of wood splintering made Esme, who had been standing quietly at his side, finally speak up.

“Alice, please.”

Her angry stance softened as she looked up at the woman. “I’m sorry, Esme. I’ll help you fix it.”

Jasper barely noticed when Rosalie and Emmett disappeared from the room, but when Alice froze up, her eyes glazing over, Edward was the next person to be suddenly standing close. Jasper’s urge to tug her hand and pull her away from Edward’s stern gaze was overpowering. No matter how freakishly strong or fast she was, she was just so _tiny._ The urge to protect her—although futile—was hard to ignore.

“Emmett,” Edward called loudly, before turning toward Carlisle. “Authorities are at the scene now. They’re still trying to put out the flames.”

“Won’t they wonder where I am?”

“Yes,” Carlisle nodded, “which is why we need to get you home.”

“I—but I thought I wasn’t going back?” After all, he assumed they’d had him gather all of his belongings into a bag for a reason. But perhaps they just knew that they would need to take drastic measures to cover up a pair of murders. He looked down at Alice, but when he noticed that she was still staring blankly ahead of her, he squeezed her hand tightly, trying to gain her attention.

She simply stared forward.

“Where do you want me?” Emmett appeared without Rosalie in tow.

“Alibi time,” Edward explained simply, to which Emmett smiled. The two brothers exchanged a long, silent look, and when Edward sighed and nodded, Emmett’s grin widened.

“ _Finally_ ,” then, he turned around, as if looking for something. When he turned back toward Edward he shrugged and Edward sighed.

“I’ll drive,” the younger boy grumbled, looking strangely exasperated.

“I’ll meet you in the car in a few,” Emmett waved a quick hand before disappearing… out of the door? Or maybe he went further into the house? Jasper couldn’t be too sure. The Cullens all moved so damn fast. Or maybe Jasper’s concussion was worse than he thought…

“Jasper, here. Take these.” Jasper didn’t see how Mrs. Cullen had made a few ibuprofen suddenly appear, but Jasper didn’t hesitate when he grabbed the pills, releasing Alice’s hand to accept the glass of water (another thing he that seemed to materialize out of thin air). “I know things are confusing for you right now, and we’re sorry,” Jasper watched as her golden eyes flickered from his gaze to Alice’s eerily still form, and back again. “Especially sorry that you’ve gotten wrapped up in this mess. And incredibly sorry for your loss.”

Carlisle nodded along with his wife as Jasper quickly took the pills. “If there’s anything my family can do for you here in the following days and weeks, I’d like to extend that offer.”

“The only thing I want is an explanation,” he muttered, wincing at the pain from swallowing. “But something tells me I’m not going to get that tonight.”

“I’m sorry,” Carlisle repeated the sentiment and Jasper wanted to roll his eyes. “You’ll learn more in time, I promise.”

“He needs a different shirt,” Alice’s voice brought everyone’s attention back onto her. When she blinked back into awareness she turned her attention to his neck. When she reached up, Edward’s hand quickly caught her wrist, freezing it in place. Alice shot Edward an annoyed look. “They’ll see the bruising.”

Jasper’s hand went to his neck then. He hadn’t seen the damage but he was sure that if it was already bruising it would look awful in the comings days.

Esme was the next to vanish from the room.

“Where are we going?” Jasper asked Edward.

Edward and Carlisle exchanged a sudden look, and then suddenly Carlisle was gone from the room, too. Only Edward, Alice, and Bella remaining. Bella quickly walked to Alice’s side, placing a tentative hand on the girl’s shoulder. Alice quickly leaned toward the taller girl, wrapping her in an embrace that looked like it startled Bella.

“We’re going to make you an alibi, come on.” Gesturing toward the kitchen, Edward began to walk away. “We’ll explain things more after we come back.”

“Come back?”

Edward turned back once he realized Jasper hadn’t begun to follow. “Until we catch these two it’s not exactly like you can check into a motel.”

Jasper ran a hand through his hair. “Guess it would be bad for you guys if I got murdered, too, huh?”

“Not quite. Come on. Leave your stuff, but grab what you would usually have on you during a night out.” He paused, before holding up a hand, “or whatever a ‘night out’ might look like for you. Wallet. Keys. Things of that nature.”

It didn’t take Jasper more than a few long seconds to dig his keys, wallet, and phone out of his backpack. Edward was already waiting by the door on the far end of the kitchen by the time he was ready to go and face…

It was still difficult to fully think about what they were taking him back to. A part of him wanted to run and hide, knowing that what awaited him was something that would likely burn itself into his memory for the rest of his life. This night had been traumatizing enough, he mused, how much more damage would just a little bit more trauma cause?

“Wait!” Jasper turned at the sound of Alice’s voice calling out. The moment he turned fully—the sound of Edward’s scolding voice loud in the room suddenly—his mind was completely wiped blank as he felt himself tugged downward by his shoulders and kissed.

He was too stunned to react. He didn’t even have time to even fully consider the kiss before it was over. He watched as her face crumpled as Bella and Edward both tugged her backward. Alice didn’t even resist. She just looked sad. Resigned almost.

“Are you _crazy?_ ” Edward hissed down to the tiny girl. Then, to Bella, “Take her upstairs.”

“Let’s finally get you that shower,” he heard Bella mutter to the girl, leading her forcefully out of the room.

“I’m sorry,” he heard Alice’s voice chime above Bella’s quiet words. “I’m _sorry_.”

And Jasper didn’t know who she was talking to, or even what she was referring to anymore.

All he knew was that, although it made little sense in the broad scheme of things, he wished he’d been able to actually kiss her back.

Edward sighed again, and a hand was on Jasper’s back, ushering him forward. “Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the last update you'll get out of me for this fic this month. My NaNoWriMo attempt crashed and burned hardly a week into the month LMAO oh well. Life is too crazy to commit to a writing schedule, unfortunately.
> 
> But it's a nice, long chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it. For my Walk in the Dark readers: keep an eye on that as the zodiac seasons shift... a nice, interesting chapter is heading your way...


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, yeah I know this is overdue.

By the time they made it to Edward’s silver sedan—after Jasper had frozen and gaped at the other cars hidden in their giant garage for a few good seconds—Emmett was already standing there, arms folded and foot tapping, with a bag thrown over his shoulder

“Took you two long enough.”

“Shut up, Emmett.”

Emmett let out a long, low whistle as Edward unlocked the car and climbed into the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind him. “What’s got his panties in a bunch?” He muttered to Jasper, pulling the backpack off his back and unzipping it.

Jasper shrugged. Something told him that a casual admittance of “you brother just yelled at Alice for kissing me” wouldn’t result in anything good. But with the redhead as angry as he was at Alice’s actions, Jasper had to wonder whether Emmett was going to find out anyways.

“Alright,” Emmett clapped, and the noise startled Jasper back into paying attention, “the story goes like this: I finally bugged you enough to hang out, but I’ve been out of town hiking! Big bummer! But, my family and I got home while you were at school, _so_ I finally swing by your house after dark so we can get into nonsense. And by nonsense I mean we went down to the creek behind the backyard,” he gestured vaguely toward the back of the house while he spoke, now digging through the opened backpack, “to drink and stuff.”

And then Emmett pulled out an unopened bottle of gin. An _expensive-_ looking bottle, if Jasper had to guess.

“Where’d you get that?” He reached out to grab the bottle and when Emmett handed it over Jasper could confirm just by the weight of the glass that this shit was pricey. Definitely nothing that his classmate had acquired on his own—although maybe Emmett Cullen did have a fake ID. If any of them did, it would only make sense for it to be him. He’d always looked old for his age.

But Jasper had to remind himself that if these people weren’t normal humans, they could very well have stolen it.

“Swiped it off Carlisle’s desk,” Emmett shrugged, as if that was an insignificant detail. “It’s practically a fancy book stopper at this point.”

“He doesn’t drink?” Jasper turned the bottle around in his hands, reading the label thoroughly; this shit was strong, too.

Emmett laughed then, as if enjoying a private joke. “Not a bit.” Then, he held his hands out to accept it back. “Now, after we had our fun, we stumbled back to the house and I bribed my sweet, sweet baby brother to drive you back home. I mean we are responsible kids after all. Even if we do have a drink or ten.”

But when Emmett twisted the lid off of the bottle, Jasper was fully expecting Emmett to take a few long swigs. Instead, he almost flinched when Emmett turned the bottle and began emptying the liquor onto the pavement.

It took Jasper a full second to lurch forward and grab the bottle. “Dude, what the _fuck_?!”

Emmett looked at Jasper like _he_ was the crazy one. “What?!”

“You’re really just going to pour this shit out? What the _hell_ —that’s such a waste.”

“Well, I’m not drinking it,” he spoke like it was an obvious thing. “Besides, this is just an alibi. You know? A fake story to get the police off your back _and_ our backs. We’re not really going to show up drunk.”

“So we’re going to show up, not even smelling of alcohol one little bit, and just _pretend_ to be drunk?”

“Yes! That’s what I’m trying to explain to you!”

Jasper wanted to pull his hair out. “That will never work.” Then, he pressed the bottle to his lips and took a few sips. _Oof_. That was strong alright.

“Stop that,” quicker than he could watch, Emmett grabbed the bottle back. “You’re not supposed to actually drink it.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Jasper wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve, trying to ignore how even simple movements like that were becoming more and more painful. “I have to go along with some dumb-as-shit lie to help cover up the fucking murder of my foster parents, directly after I’m attacked by some sort of monster which you guys claim to know about because you’re some _other_ type of monster, all while dodging all my valid questions, and I can’t even have a fucking drink of alcohol? Are you being serious right now?”

Edward, who had started the car a minute before, rolled the window down and leaned out, looking up toward Emmett. “Emmett, give him the damn bottle.”

The taller boy sighed and handed the gin back to Jasper. “Whatever.”

Jasper snatched the bottle back, shooting him a glare, before upending it once more, drinking deeply this time. “Ugh. That’s enough, I think.” It had been a long time since he’d had a drink, so he was sure that a few shots worth would be enough to get him adequately buzzed by the time they made it back to his place.

Or what was left of it.

He shrugged the thought away as he handed the bottle back to Emmett willingly. “Here, take a few sips. Or at least swish it around your mouth. If you don’t, unless you’re a world-class actor, they’re not going to believe you.”

If the situation weren’t so morose, Jasper would’ve laughed at the way Emmett plugged his nose and took two small sips of the gin before re-capping it and tossing it back into his backpack. “That’s gonna suck to get back up.” He grumbled strangely as he zipped his bag and opened the backseat of the car, gesturing for Jasper to get in. “Lets go.”

The drive over was painfully silent. At one point Emmett tried turning on the radio, to which Edward muttered something quiet, and then the music stayed off.

And Edward drove like a goddamn maniac.

When the boy pulled a hard right, Jasper slid across the backseat, feeling a bit woozy. Whether it was the alcohol or Edward’s driving, he couldn’t be entirely sure.

“Please put your seatbelt on,” Edward muttered, eyeing him in the backseat.

Jasper clicked his seatbelt on, glaring at the reflection of the younger boy in the mirror. After this disaster of a night they’d better answer any and every question that Jasper had. If they wouldn’t, well… he knew of a tiny girl who definitely would.

It was difficult to think about Alice right now without feeling himself flush. His emotions were so scattered he hardly knew what to feel about the strange demon. He was worried for her, but also a bit frightened by her earlier displays. He was endlessly curious about her, but he also had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t just simple ‘baggage’ she was hiding from him. He wanted to be there with her, but he hadn’t the slightest clue of what to even say to her.

“ _I don’t belong to them,_ ” she’d declared, ripping herself out of his arms to wrap her own around herself, _“I don’t_.”

“They’re after her, aren’t they?” Jasper asked out loud to the empty car. “The two people that killed Meg and Wilson. They’re after Alice.”

There was silence, and a shared expression between the two brothers before Edward nodded slightly. “Yes,” he spoke after another couple of seconds.

“Why do they think she belongs to them?”

“We can talk about this more—”

“Cut the shit, Edward. Just tell me.” Oh yeah, Jasper was definitely buzzed by now.

Edward turned the car onto the main road that lead straight through town—street lights now illuminated the car every few seconds. Edward sighed, “Because they created her.” The sound of sirens brought Jasper’s attention straight ahead as he watched an ambulance speed toward Jasper’s house.

Suddenly it was very easy to ignore Alice and anything having to do with her.

“What am I supposed to do?” _What am I supposed to say?_

“All we have is an alibi,” Emmett muttered the words quietly as they slowly turned and followed where the ambulance had disappeared around a corner, “not a script.”

Even thinking about the aftermath of what was about to happen made Jasper’s mind go completely haywire. He was over eighteen now. There wasn’t going to be another placement for him. He was an adult and he was going to be on his own now.

He hoped that Greg, his social worker, would be able to help him out a little. Even with some vague guidance. Jasper had no idea how he was supposed to just bounce back and find a place to live.

_“Until we catch these two it’s not exactly like you can check into a motel.”_

Edward’s words from before provided him a little bit of comfort, but not a whole lot. After the two monsters were ‘dealt with’, whatever _that_ entailed, Jasper would have to find himself an apartment that he could afford, and with his meager savings it wasn’t impossible, but it would be difficult.

Would he even stay in Forks? That was another question he now faced with. Going back to Seattle might make more sense. Or hell, even leaving the state altogether and going back to California or Texas was now suddenly an option for him.

He had no idea what to even think.

Edward slowed the car down as they turned onto his street. Sirens were no longer blaring but the entire road was blocked off with emergency vehicles. In the distance, Jasper could see the flames rising up, the dark smoke difficult to see against the pitch black night sky.

The car was barely stopped before Jasper was out of the car and stumbling forward.

“Now hold on there,” Emmett was suddenly by his side, “remember,” he spoke quietly, so only Jasper could hear, “we don’t know what happened.”

And it was easy for Jasper to agree because the house looked nothing like what he expected. In fact, there was hardly a house left at all. Where they were now, it looked like the entire second level was completely gone.

Jasper nearly tripped on a patch of uneven pavement as he forced his feet forward, Emmett wordlessly reaching out to steady him. He could just barely realize that Edward was following the pair closely. All three of their gazes were glued to the fiery rubble ahead.

He wondered whether Emmett or Edward had already seen the damage.

All of it to hide the bodies of his foster parents.

Who had been _murdered_ by something (some _one_ ) that had attacked him.

“Whoa there, boys,” a deputy was suddenly in front of them, holding his arms out to keep the trio from walking forward any further, “not so fast. We can’t have you going any closer, now.”

Jasper could only gape at the wreckage, his chest feeling hollow.

“That’s his house, sir,” Emmett spoke up, and Jasper could feel the ghost of his hand hovering over his shoulder, as if preparing to yank him back or guide him away, if needed.

But Jasper couldn’t even move. All he could do is stare. Wilson would never share one of his books with him again. Meg would never tell another story about one of her students. They weren’t just gone in a freak accident. They’d been killed in their sleep, and it was all Jasper’s fault.

He didn’t hear what happened next. Suddenly there were a few more police officers before them and they were being ushered back toward one of the squad cars. Jasper didn’t recall much that was spoken but he did notice when eventually, Emmett’s nonsensical alibi came in handy. An officer had directly asked Jasper a question, but he was far too stunned to reply. The taller boy explained that he and Jasper had been hanging out and his brother was just giving them both a lift to drop Jasper off at home.

Jasper heard the ‘have you boys been drinking tonight’ question and then Edward chimed in. Jasper zoned back out soon after that.

It wasn’t until an arm wrapped around his shoulders when he felt himself fall back into his body. Mrs. Cullen was there, looking very different than she had an hour ago. Now, she looked like a regular mom, fresh out of bed. A jacket thrown over what appeared to be pajamas as she stood at his side, talking to someone he didn’t recognize with some type of badge on their belt. How long had he been sitting? He had no idea. But he’d made himself comfortable enough on the bumper of a squad car some time ago. Looking around he couldn’t see Emmett or Edward.

“No, no that’s nonsense,” Esme shook her head, “my husband and I can talk to the county ourselves. There’s no need to send him somewhere else at this hour.”

“Mrs. Cullen?” Jasper asked, eyes struggling to see her clearly in the dark. But when she smiled down at him he blinked a few times and was suddenly able to make out her soft, heart-shaped face more clearly. “What’s going on?”

“You’re going to be coming home with us tonight, is that alright Jasper?”

“We’ll be able to see if the county has any spare beds in the morning,” the woman Mrs. Cullen had been speaking with smiled thinly toward him, and somehow Jasper just knew the woman was irritated at Mrs. Cullen’s insistence.

“What? Why?” He looked from the woman, and back to Emmett and Edward’s mother, suddenly confused.

“To find you somewhere to stay, of course.”

“But I’m eighteen,” he stared back at the woman with a furrowed brow.

She seemed surprised to hear that. “Oh, I wasn’t aware…”

“I was set up with an extension that was going to last through the summer,” he spoke, and suddenly everything felt more real. Meg and Wilson were dead, and now the future he’d worked so hard for was slipping through his fingers. “I turned eighteen in December but we were going to extend the placement so I could work toward enrolling at Peninsula and live here while I worked and studied or at least until I could afford to move somewhere else but now I… I—”

“It’s okay,” Mrs. Cullen’s words were quiet but firm, “It’s going to be alright, Jasper.” And her arm around his shoulders was far more assuring than any of her words. Lifting up a hand he pressed it to the side of his neck, where a high-collared pullover was hiding the bruising from the county worker standing across from them. The pain was still sharp but he leaned into it now, knowing that he had to be alert and stay focused. There would be time to lose himself in his own thoughts later, now he had to figure out what to do next.

“Emergency crews are still working to get to them,” the woman spoke, as if it were supposed to be a comforting thing, that people were currently risking their lives to retrieve a pair of corpses, “in the mean time, do you have your social worker’s information?”

He nodded, forcing himself to sit up and return the woman’s gaze as he recited Greg’s name and phone number. They weren’t there for much longer. Now that the fires had been extinguished there was a rescue underway. One of the deputies pulled Mrs. Cullen aside to speak to her for a few minutes and the next thing Jasper knew she was escorting him to yet another Cullen car he’d never seen before.

As she led him to the passenger door of the dark grey SUV, Jasper turned toward her. “They don’t want me to be around when they pull out their bodies, do they?”

Mrs. Cullen frowned, shaking her head. “They’re trying to clear all the neighbors out now.”

Jasper nodded as he pulled the door open and climbed into the car. Truthfully, he hadn’t noticed any of his neighbors the entire time they’d been there. The clock on the dashboard read 3:36, meaning it had been at least two hours since he, Emmett, and Edward had arrived on the scene.

“Where are…?”

“The boys are just around the block,” she started the engine and swiftly backed the car up, turning it around, “you’ll see the car when we get back to the main road.”

“Okay,” and that was all he could think to say at that point. When he leaned his head back against the headrest he closed his eyes and sighed, the soreness in his neck was now making speaking highly uncomfortable.

It was something that he was sure would be worse tomorrow, which didn’t bode well. He knew that tomorrow would likely be the worst of it. He’d have to talk to Greg and probably a few more people from the police or fire departments. Maybe someone else from the county, too. And those were only the people who were dealing with Meg and Wilson’s deaths. It absolutely didn’t count the Cullens, or Alice.

It wouldn’t have anything to do with the monsters that had caused this.

Knowing that they probably had much to discuss forced his already shell-shocked mood to sour further. It was tempting to accept the pills Carlisle had offered him earlier, knowing how much they’d likely help, but with the far-away memory of his Mom’s glossed-over eyes still fresh in his mind, he knew he shouldn’t risk it.

“Just so you know,” Esme’s voice was soft as she roused his attention back toward her. Thankfully—and whether it was a testament to the quality of the car or the skill of her driving—the drive back to the Cullen residence was heaps smoother than the drive back into town. “You are welcome to stay with us as long as you’d like. We know you’re going to have a lot to deal with in the coming days and weeks, and we will help support you with whatever choices you make, but it’s important that you know that staying, even if for a little while, is an option.”

Jasper hummed, too spent to verbalize a proper grateful reply. “Thanks,” he rasped, staring straight ahead.

“No matter what you learn, or what happens, know that we’ll support you, and that whatever choice you make is the right one.”

Jasper closed his eyes and sighed. He fell asleep to the low hum of the car in his ears and the image of Alice’s bright red eyes in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken so long. I'm a little bit buzzed right now and tried very hard to proof-read while I was "editing" but I'm too distracted to focus right now LMAO I'm so sorry. Anyways hope you enjoy!


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